Final War
by Novel Inkling
Summary: The war between TarTar and the Squidbeak Legion is upon them. The entire camp is trying to keep their wits about them, while Kira and Chili try to figure out TarTar's insideous plans. The end is near, and their future is on the line. With Kira and the group as Inkopolis' only hope, can they bring an end to the war? Rated M for language and violence
1. Prologue

Prologue: Echoes in the Mist

* * *

Kira sat up in her infirmary bed and looked around, eager to awake in her own bedroom. But to her dismay, she woke up in the infirmary once again. Her side was wrapped in gauze from TarTar's sanitized blast. Her close friend Chili asleep in her lap, her mother and father, Celeste, Mint, and Akari asleep on separate beds, Aero and Aurora asleep as well, and Alaric keeping watch.

"You're up early, sweetheart.." Alaric said quietly. "I was worried about you."

"Heh, thanks pops."

Alaric pulled up a chair and sat next to Kira. "You know, I wanted to teach you more about your powers, but with the attack-"

"Yeah... We'll be eliminating TarTar soon." She replied.

Alaric grinned a bit. "When your mother and I were part of Neon's ol' prophecy, we learned how to summon animals from our powers known as Seishin."

Kira's eyes widened in awe as she listened to him. "Really?"

He nodded and summoned a cobra, making Kira flinch a bit. "This here is my Seishin. An ice cobra named Korib. He spits poison that can freeze his enemies."

"So what's my Seishin?" She wondered.

Alaric helped her carefully slide out of the bed and grinned at her. "Come with me and I'll help you."

* * *

The fields were quiet as the morning dew kissed the grass. Their quiet footsteps echoed softly throughout the area as they suddenly stopped.

"This should be good." Alaric commented. "Now, to summon your Seishin, you need to think deep. Think about them coming to you. About you needing them. If you need them, they will come to your aid."

"Okay! That should be easy enough." Kira replied as she rubbed her hands together.

A soft glow came from her hands as she focused. Thinking about her Seishin, she took deep breaths, and then the signs of life hit her, as she felt a cold breeze hit her like a tank.

"What the-?"

The Seishin had appeared before her. A horse with black skin and purple eyes, it's curved ears twitching. The mane of it being black with glowing pastel green stripes, with a large twisted horn coming out of it's forehead. It's mouth was a beak and its dragon wings raising up. It's tail was a lion's tail with the tuft being black with purple tips and instead of hooves, it had curved hoof/paws with long black claws sticking out. It screeched/whinnied before eyeing their summoner.

"Holy shit..." Kira breathlessly whispered.

"I'll be damned." Alaric declared. "Your Seishin is a Venom Walker."

"Venom Walker?"

Alaric walked up to the horse and stroked its mane. "Venom Walkers are sacred Seishin to control. They require a lot of patience and trust."

Kira got up and held her hand out to pet it, to which it went straight to nuzzling her, making her laugh.

"See? They like you." He told her. "Why don't you give them a name?"

Kira made a face before smiling at her new comrade. "I like the name Nimh."

* * *

Hours passed and Kira returned to the field to meet her father again. "Father!" She called out. "Nimh is amazing! They can do so many things! They're fast and have special powers!"

"Good. But you both need to be ready for the war ahead. Can you do that for me?"

Kira and Nimh were silent.

"...Alright, how about for Chili?"

"O-Of course..."

Alaric gave Kira a hug and rubbed her back.

"I know you're scared... Scared you will fail him. But he's willing to risk his life for you. So it would be nice for him to know you'd be willing to do the same for him."

Kira stared off into space as she looked at the fading stars and sighed. " I refuse to let him down. And I refuse to let Chili die... I will be the one who dies. I will be the only one dead by the end of this war.

_Watashi no chi wa kare no karada ga sore ni ataru mae ni jimen o nurimasu_

* * *

Final War's first chapter will be coming out soon!

Translation for the final sentence: My blood will smear the ground before his body hits it


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Part 1

* * *

Kira woke up in her bed before the others woke up. She still had the events from the early morning dream replaying in her head. Her venom walker Nimh being her companion who she would ride into the incoming war. All the pains and aches from her encounter with TarTar made her feel queasy, but she shook it off as prewar jitters. But the one thing that made her wonder

Mint was the first to rise and smiled at Kira. "Morning Kira!"

"Morning Mint."

"Did you sleep well?" They wondered.

"Slept like a log." She replied with a chuckle. "Say, what's on the agenda for today?"

"For you? You still need rest. TarTar did quite the number on you." Mint frowned. "I couldn't even finish healing you properly because you were in so much pain."

"B-But Miiiiiiint!" Kira whined. "I gotta do things! I'm the one in charge!"

"Oh phooey!" They replied with a scowl. "You're remaining in bed today, and that's final."

Kira crossed her arms and pouted like a child. "I'm fine Mint."

They smiled and pat her head. "I'll go and get you some breakfast. You must be hungry." And left for the mess hall. The rest of the group rose up and said their good mornings and get better soon's to their squid in charge before leaving for the training fields.

Chili, of course, was always the last one to rise. He groaned a bit as he started to stir. "Mornin' Dipshit."

"Morning sleeping shit-head." Kira chuckled.

"Yer still in here? Good cod, what's Mint doing to you when I shut my eyes?"

"They put me on bed-rest for one more day before I can officially get to work." Kira complained as she moved his tentacles around. "Y'know, missing out on all the action."

Chili moved his tentacles and shifted his position in her lap. "Yer a fuckin psycho. You get injured by an almost life-threatening blast, and you pass it off as if it was a baby's flick. Fucking hell Kira, are you ever going to relax?"

"...Perhaps." She replied while looking away.

"Kira, you know well why I want you to take it easy." He sighed as he crawled out of the bed and returned to his normal form. He was still wearing that black hoodie and the black he put in his hair didn't fade. He gave her a tired, worried look as she lowered her ears.

"I know, I know.. But it's my duty. I have to do this to fulfill this stupid prophecy so that everyone, not just us, can rest easily."

He looked away and grunted. "I still want that vacation, hope you know."

"And after all this is over, we'll definitely go one one." She replied and held his hands. "Promise."

"Promise." He repeated. Chili shoved his hands into his pockets and looked over as Mint brought breakfast in. "Looks like that's my cue to leave. I'll see ya around, loser."

"See ya, dumbass." She grinned playfully as he cracked a smile and raised the middle finger at her, leaving her and Mint in the infirmary tent.

The breakfast the octoling brought her smelled delightful. Scrambled eggs, toast and squidberry jam, with yogurt and a glass of apple juice.

"Oh cod, Mint this looks so good!" Kira commented as she wiped some drool off her face.

They smiled wide and took a seat. "Dig in!"

As the injured squid ate, Mint checked her wounds and grimaced. "Oh dear, I don't believe this wound is healing properly."

"Funny, because I thought it was getting better." Kira commented with a mouth full of food.

Mint shook their head and got some more gauze and ointment. "It needs at least another week to heal."

"You have got to be shitting me." She groaned. "Mint, I can't wait another week! TarTar's next move is to lay siege on the city! And we gotta be ready for it! That can't happen if their leader is on god-damned bed-rest!"

"If we want that wound to heal, it has to be that way!" They huffed. "Besides, you're not well."

"Not true! I'm perfectly fine!" Kira set her tray to the side and got out of the bed in only her pajamas. "See?!" She instantly regretted it as her legs contorted into jello and she turned into a squid, the blast mark visible on her little squid body. Mint scooped up the squid and placed her on the bed.

"You were saying?" They replied with a smirk.

"Oh fuck you." Kira grumbled as she lied on her pillow, crossing her tentacles, glaring at her friend. "Okay, so I'm not _totally_ better. But at least I'm almost there!"

"Almost? You're so full of it." Mint said with a roll of their eyes. "Now rest. And I better not see you out of bed."

Kira squawked and whined, flapping her tentacles in the air as Mint left. Frustrated, she lied on the pillow and returned to normal.

To the entrance of the infirmary, she saw a pastel-blue octoling stick his head in and wave. "Hey!"

"Who are- Aero?" Kira said with a raised eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

He walked in and sat in a chair. "Mint told me to check up on you. Make sure you don't escape."

She sighed, "Of course they would do that. But what confuses me most is... Uh... Why are you even here? You're the last person I'd ever expect to be in a war of all things."

"Then you've never seen Splatfest Remix when it's crunch time." He laughed. "It gets crazy."

Kira smirked. "Crazy as in people lose limbs kind of crazy? Or crazy as in I wish you were never born crazy?"

"What's the difference?" He asked with a snicker.

"Many things." She replied.

* * *

Part 2 coming soon


	3. Chapter 1 part 2

Chapter 1 Part 2

* * *

Chili and Akari were sparring each other and Aurora was watching. Hand-to-hand combat was Chili's specialty and he wasn't afraid to show it off. He grabbed the whip Akari was wielding and tried throwing her in the air. Akari took the throw and then threw a lightning bolt at the foot, tripping the squid and making him tumble to the side. After three minutes of neither side letting up, Akari was able to snag the win by using her whip and tied him down using it.

"Hand to Hand may be your specialty." The octoling replied in a confident tone. "But if you're out-ranged, you ain't getting no-where."

Chili snarled. "I told you to use the whip to demonstrate a point. But now that you're getting cocky, I oughta put you in your place. C'mere you calamari!"

Akari moved as he struggled against the whip and chuckled. "You're so silly." She released him from it's grip and hoisted him to his feet. "Don't forget to spar Aurora before you visit Kira in the infirmary."

"Yeah, yeah... Same routine, same ass-whupping." He groaned as he prepped to fight Aurora.

Akari left the fields and saw Mint practicing support. Casting pillars of healing light, using their wings to form a quick shield.

"Hey." Akari spoke as she came closer. "You're getting better."

Their wings raised in approval and they smiled. "Thanks Kari! I've been using Kira's advice and it's been working like a dream!"

"Speaking of the squid, where is she? I thought she'd be better?"

Mint sighed. "That wound is not healing the way we hoped. We need to keep her in bed until we can fix it."

"You know she's going to be pissed about that, right? She is the one who's gotta get this operation going, and the longer she's told to wait, she'll act irrationally and then she'll get more hurt. Just use your healing powers to finish healing and she'll be good to go."

Mint looked away and their tentacles curled up. Akari immediately took this as a sign that they were hiding something and narrowed her eyes.

"Mint. What are you not telling me?"

"I'm just concerned about her health in general. She's always stressed and she's always getting hurt for our sake." They went on. "I just don't want her to die."

Akari let out a frustrated noise. "Neither do I. But we have to let her do these things. After all, it's TarTar we're talking about."

Mint thought about it for quite sometime and huffed. "Alright then, I'll go and heal her up so she can get to work."

* * *

Kira and Aero were relaxing in the infirmary as Aero talked about the Splatfests and some crazy stories from when the Splatfest remixes went down.

"And then, we snatched the win outta the bag right under from Aurora's nose! It was fantastic!"

Kira chuckled. "Must be an intense time of the year, eh?"

"Oh yeah, it really is. The recordings we do of the results are always stressful for both ends."

Kira tried standing up again, but felt herself collapse on the bed. "Damnit... I just want to be healed up so I can do something."

Luckily for her, Mint came in and smiled. "Let's try healing that wound again, shall we?"

"Thank cod!" Kira cried out. "I was SO bored just lazing about."

Mint laughed. "For Chili, this would be a luxury." They rubbed their hands together and placed their hands on the wound. Kira winced in pain at first, but slowly relaxed as the wound was completely healed and Kira could probably walk again. Kira leaped out of the bed and laughed.

"I LIVE! I AM A FREE SQUID BABY!" Kira squealed and ran out of the infirmary, locating Chili and tackling him to the ground, making him yelp. "Guess who?!" She yelled.

"Western Union?" He wondered and threw her off of him. Kira let out a tiny yelp before smiling. "It's me dumbo!"

Chili grinned. "I don't know any 'me' squids." Kira latched onto him and grinned as well.

"We got a lot to do! First things first... Can we spar, Chili?"

* * *

Kira turned into her dark form and wielded her scythe, while Chili turned into his fire form and held his gauntlets close. The others gathered around to watch the two spar and Mint was ready to help the other in case one got hurt.

"I ain't going easy on you just because yer a girl!" He called out. "Or the fact that you were injured."

Kira grinned wildly, the lust for action embedded into her soul. "Just you wait! I may have been in the infirmary for a few days but that doesn't mean I don't know a thing or two."

Both bowed to each other before they stared into the other's soul, waiting for someone to make the first attack. But Kira smirked suddenly and Chili was pushed forward by an unforeseen crystal that launched him in the air and Kira made a swift fly towards him. he put up his gauntlets to block the attack and his little demon wings flapped, trying to withstand the force of the scythe.

"I see you learned some new tricks while I was away. Is there anything you can't do?" Chili replied with a smirk.

Kira smiled evilly. "You could say that, but the one thing I can't do?" She placed her boot on her opponent's shoulder and pushed him back, allowing for her to quickly slice at the armor he was wearing, it falling apart in pieces, making his eyes widen as it revealed his clothes that were underneath them. If she was playing for kills, that would have easily been his chunky body.

"Oi!" He called out once he landed. "You cheeky bastard, you're playing dirty!"

"I play dirty? You're one to talk!" Kira retorted as she dived down with her scythe in hand ready to strike. Clashing against the gauntlets again as he raised them to block the scythe. "After all, if anyone plays dirty in war, it's you mate!" She broke a crystal over his gauntlets and a shard made a small cut on his cheek.

He wiped the blood away from the cut and gave her his infamous toothy grin. "So you've chosen the hard way, eh?" His quills on his forearms rattled in excitement as he narrowed his eyes at her. "So be it." He made an X motion with his arms and the quills shot forward. Kira was at a disadvantage due to her bare skin being visible. But a switch of the weapon mid-fight brought out the shield and sword, as she evaded the attack via dodge-roll and a catch of the blade.

"Let's see how you fair against sword-play!" She called out.

He shrugged. "I was never good at them."

"Then let me get straight to the point!" She tried aiming for Chili's legs to try and trip him, but he knew better and aimed for the face of his attacker, but she blocked using the shield and elbowed him in the face using it. His vision blurred for a minute before he was able to swing the gauntlets into Kira's stomach and sent her back a few feet, giving him some breathing room.

"Never took you for the aggressive attacker, Kira." He huffed. "Could barely catch my breath during that exchange!"

Kira coughed before she switched to the scythe again. "Ya think? Try this on for size!" She removed the moon pendant from her hair and let it all fall.

"Pfft! Pathetic!" He set his gauntlet ablaze and ran towards her. The squid smirked and her tentacles formed a shield around her, tanking Chili's fiery punches. She finally disappeared from the bubble and appeared behind it, waving at Chili.

"Wait, how are you-"

Kira closed her palm and the shield exploded, sending him back at least ten feet. His nose was bleeding and he was covered in cuts and bruises from the blast. Kira retied her hair into the ponytail using the hairpin and grinned.

"Game Point." She grinned as she placed her foot on Chili's chest. "I win." She whispered.

He coughed and gave her a weird look. "I know I'm rusty but hot-damn that was intense..."

Kira offered her hand to Chili and she picked him off of the ground, Mint instantly getting to work on his wounds.

"But how?" He wondered.

Kira exhaled before talking. "Extensive training. Took the liberty to begin magic training with Misery before our vacation ever took place. So I've been training with her for over two weeks."

"Can you teach me that stuff? I want a rematch." Chili chuckled as she playfully punched him.

"Tonight you and me can do some private training. Meet me in the Sunset Fields at 7pm, when the dusk has finally set. I'll teach you how to unlock your powers."

He smiled a bit and punched her back.

"See you then."

* * *

Chapter 2 coming soon


	4. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

After a while, Chili and Kira tasked themselves to leave the camp in search of any signs TarTar may be nearby. Kira flew above while Chili stayed close to the ground. The breeze was rough, but it didn't affect

"So far, there haven't been any chemical disturbances..." Kira told him. "So he hasn't prowled around the area yet."

"That's good. One less problematic fuck head to worry about." Chili replied, his eyes scanning the areas. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around why he would attack NeoBright first and not Inkopolis. I mean, yeah, I hate that place, but not so much as to wanna destroy it."

"I don't know either. But I did learn some things while I was there."

"Like what?"

Kira flew down to him and tucked her wings in. "Well, you obviously knew about my parents."

"That was the biggest one." He chuckled.

The inklings sighed in unison before Kira spoke up. "I know how the parasite was created. TarTar and my mother once met in the metro when I was a baby. She confronted him but he took some of her blood and used it to enhance the sanitized."

"That's wack." He muttered.

She nudged him. "Now's not the time for joking around."

"Aight, whatever mom."

Kira gave him a deadpanned stare. "Seriously?" She wondered.

"I gotta give you a hard time." He snickered. "'Sides, I'm bored and we found nothing."

Kira heard a distant voice and shoved Chili into the ground.

"What was THAT Fo-"

Kira covered his mouth and hissed. "Shut your god-damn mouth. Did you hear that?"

Chili listened and nodded as Kira removed her hand from his mouth and slowly peeked around a corner before her eyes widened in terror and she went back to hiding.

"What did you see?" He whispered.

Kira mouthed. "He's here."

The murderous inkling went on high alert and peeked around to where Kira originally did. He saw the sanitized had formed a massive camp similar to the one they had and they had a prison unit, unlike their camp.

"This can't be right. That they're so dormant... Something is up..." He muttered and turned towards Kira. "We have to warn the others."

She nodded. "Let's go back. But we shouldn't take off until we're far away from their line of sight."

Following exactly as she ordered, they sneaked away from the base and flew back to camp.

* * *

TarTar drafted plans and was forging a new containment system. A pair of chains that would zap the wearer if they tried using their powers.

"Once we capture the two in charge, we will strip them of their power and force them to tell us where their base is. So we can destroy them at the source before striking Inkopolis." He told his militia.

They clapped and stared blankly at their leader, as he gave the cuffs to a soldier. "Go on patrol tonight. If you happen to catch them, let me know and I'll deal with them quickly."

"Affirmative, sir."

He grinned and stabbed the map using a dagger. "INKOPOLIS SHALL BE MINE!"

* * *

Kira and Chili explained their findings to the group. She was leaning against the wall, staring at her phone, while the others chatted about it.

Mint gasped in terror. "The horror! Do you know what he's planning to do?"

Chili shook his head. "No clue. But we have to be extra careful now. Since he can strike at any given moment."

Kira got off the wall and huffed. "I'm running back to my house to grab something."

Chili raised an eyebrow. "Your house? Don't you mean your bunker?"

"No. I said what I said." She told him and slung a bag over her shoulders. "Now I've gotta go before sundown. See ya." She made it a few feet from Inkopolis before being stopped by Chili.

"Now where do you think you're going?"

"Oh for cod's sake... Please just let me do this..." Kira groaned.

He pulled her in close, and not in the loving, friendly way either. "Now you listen to me well." He hissed, "I may have taken a lot of shit from you as of recent, but I refuse to let you leave the camp knowing there is a high potential of being killed."

"I am not a baby!" She growled and pushed him away. "I have every right to leave this camp and I am not-"

"You are such a stubborn bitch!" He yelled.

She snarled and summoned her scythe. "What was that you called me?!"

"I ain't afraid of you! You are always trying to be the hero when we have told you over a million times that you have to let us do this with you!" His face was red and his hair was close to being set on fire. "We have tried to bring you back to earth but you just don't listen! You are a stubborn ass and you know it too. Otherwise I would not be persisting so much to go with you!"

"You wouldn't understand!" Kira cried out. "I have seen so many visions! So many where you have died directly in my arms and I was to blame! And I never told you because I was afraid for the worst! I shut myself away and hoped I could defeat the evil myself because I never wanted you to get hurt because I was at fault!"

His voice turned into a quiet whimper of sorts. "I love you too much to see you suffer... I never wanted you to end up like I did. That's why I'm being so reluctant about you leaving the camp."

Kira lowered her weapon and looked at him sadly. Tears were pouring down Chili's face, his ears low and his body slumped. "You knew about how much I lost..." He sobbed. "I lost my sight, my mental health became so out of bounds... I never even knew what love was like until I met you and Mint... I promised you when you slept after the second incident that I would do all in my power not to fail you again..."

He felt himself gasp for air as he felt someone tightly squeezing him. It was his friend, who had latched herself onto him and wrapped her wings around. "I guess you're right..."

"Guess? I know I'm right." He snorted, laughing through his tears. Kira used a cloth and cleaned his face up with a smile.

"Please let us do more to help you." Chili begged, making his friend smile a bit.

"Sure thing."

The sound of running behind them made them whirl around. "What was that?" Kira wondered.

A quiet wooshing noise and a prick of the neck made Kira yelp. Her form instantly fading to normal and falling into Chili's lap unconscious.

"Kira!" He yelped, holding her in his lap. He saw the dart in her neck and felt one instantly prick his own neck. He yanked it out and felt himself stumble before finally falling over and closing his eyes.

* * *

Groaning, Chili stirred from his sudden slumber.

"Felt like I was bit by something... Where am I?"

He felt something constrictive around his wrists and something tight on his body.

_Oh no... No..._ He stared at his body in horror. _No I look like a god-damned hooker! Ugh! I hate leather!_

He turned to his right and saw Kira in a cell beside him. Same leather outfit, same cuffs, and her neck was bruised from the sudden prick of the needle.

"Kira!" He placed his hands on the glass and looked at her unconscious body in horror. "Kira! Wake up!"

"Oh, she'll be out for a while." A voice cooed.

Chili's lips curled into a snarl and he took a defensive stance. "YOU!" He roared.

TarTar grinned as he stared down at his once failed test subject. "Hello Chili. It's so nice to see you again."

* * *

End of Chapter


	5. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

* * *

"Why are we here?!" He growled. "And I swear, if you lay a finger on Kira, I'll cut off your hand and shove it so far up your ass you can see it with your own damn ego!"

TarTar raised his hands up in defense. "Easy there, tiger. I just want to have a friendly chat with you."

"That's a load of shit and you know it." He sneered. "And behind bars too? This is anything but friendly."

"You can't be too careful nowadays." He inquired.

Chili leaned against the wall and glared at Tartar. "Well? Get on with it. Or do you like staring at me in this tight ass leather?"

TarTar smirked. "It looks rather good on you."

Chili made a disgusted face. "You fucking pervert."

"Say what you want. That's not what I wanted to talk about."

"Then what do you want?! You make no fucking sense back then and you still don't make sense" He growled.

TarTar leaned against the bars. "I want to talk about the girl."

"Kira? Are you going to do that whole cliche where you offer me freedom and you keep her here with your sorry ass?" Chili asked with a bored tone and raised eyebrows.

"Well..."

He laughed. "Pathetic! I may be an asshole but I'm an asshole with standards."

"What standards?" TarTar wondered.

"Oh go fuck yourself, you piece of trash." Chili snarled and smashed the cuffs against the bars, sending him running.

He roared in frustration and kicked at the bars, hoping for something magical to happen; his foot melting the bars, the bars turning into ash, anything. But to no avail.

Kira finally began to stir as she looked up at Chili. "Chili...?"

He immediately stopped his temper tantrum and ran directly over to Kira. The glass between them stopping him from actually helping her, but he did put his hands on it. "I'm so glad you're okay."

She rubbed her neck with a grimace. "Not really. Felt like I was stabbed in the neck by a mosquito!"

He grimaced as well. "You're not wrong about your neck being stabbed.." Chili pointed to her neck. "Your's left one hell of a bruise."

"We have to get out of here... Our friends could be next." Kira said in a worried way.

Chili growled in frustration. "There's gotta be an easier way to get out!"

"Maybe I can help?" A eerie voice rang.

Both jerked their heads towards the sanitized octoling standing in front of them, their glasses covering their eyes and their sickly green skin sending shivers down their spines.

"Is this some kind of sick joke to you pests?" Chili snarled. "Because I'll give you something to laugh about!"

"Whoa whoa! Easy their Chili Pepper! Let's not get too hasty!"

Both raised an eyebrow and looked confused. The octoling removed their glasses and put their hand resting on the bridge of her nose.

"Imagine there's two." They told them.

Kira beamed, whisper-shouting. "Mis!"

Misery let her hair and eyes go back to the way they normally were and grinned.

"Wait-How?!" Chili wondered, his voice in a whisper-shout as well. "Shadow Inklings, as far as I know, can't change their appearance like that unless..."

Misery sighed. "Yeah... I'm part Shadow Parasite."

Chili seemed to turn red in the face and threw himself against the bars. "You! I oughta kill you, ya filthy liar!"

"I had no choice! I wanted to help you out but I didn't want to scare you." She implored. "Please... I can get you out, you just have to-"

Hearing voices, Misery retreated into the depths of the facility and hid, transforming back into the sanitized octoling and throwing on her glasses.

"Commander wishes to see you." An octoling droned.

"He can suck a fat one." He sneered.

Kira was hoisted to her feet and dragged to another room, her kicking and yelling. Chili shouted her name and was dragged to the same room.

The room reeked of chemicals and made their vision blur. Being slammed into the floor, the inklings were tossed aside.

"Welcome, to the game of all games." TarTar smirked. "I never thought you'd make it this far to stop my plans. But I guess I underestimated you. So I'm going to put an end to your little winning streak once and for all!"

Kira growled. "You're not going to get away with this! They're going to end you!"

TarTar grinned. "And that's where you're wrong my dear." He chuckled. "Oh. So. Wrong!"

Kira yelled as she was thrown onto a pedestal and the cuffs she wore fell off and the wires she was painfully greeted with in the first encounter pierced her back and made her scream, her wings unfurling and her dark form emerging as the energy began to get drained from her.

"You stop that right-!" Chili was quickly interrupted by a cloth being tied around his mouth and pulling his arms behind his back. Anger piling up in his core as he struggled and thrashed like an angry bull.

The dark inkling felt hot tears roll down her face from the pain. "Ch-Chili!" She cried.

TarTar laughed maniacally watching the show go down. "Oh what a show!"

_Don't let him win_

Kira struggled more and more against the chains.

_Chili needs you!_

She roared and ripped the chains from their place embedded in the walls and ran over to the inkling, unbinding him and freeing him.

"Ready to kick some ass?" She grabbed his hand and raised her sword.

He grinned. "Hell yeah."

An aura began surrounding the two and they felt themselves merge together in a blinding light.

'What is this?!" TarTar growled. "I demand answers!"

A smooth, new york accent answered back. "And answers you shall receive, punk!"


	6. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

* * *

"B-But how?!" Exclaimed TarTar.

The figure nonchalantly tossed a splat bomb up and down in the air, grinning. A toothy grin and the lust in their eyes to paint the walls with blood. Their hair was a bright neon blue with the ends fading to red. The tentacles long and the ends slightly zigzagged. Spiky black earrings in her left ear and a music note on the right. Her eyes were a mixture of fire red and purple, and the eyelids the black, tired color Chili was known for. Her figure lean and her dragon wings aflame.

Her outfit was a combination of Kira and Chili's outfits. A sleeveless black denim vest with a white, black and blue t-shirt, with a long pair of pants and accompanied by a pair of black knee high boots painted with blue and green flames.

"They call me Cherry Bomb." She said with a grin, as she held the splat bomb. "But don't get your tentacles in a curl, sweet-cheeks. I'm one-hundred percent the same bitch you've always known and loved."

"Unfuse right now or I'll fire!" He screamed.

The fire in her eyes grew bright. "Not before we tango."

"...Uh oh..."

Cherry yelled. "Hell yeah! BATTER UP FUCKER!" She threw the bomb and leaped up, doing a roundhouse kick and kicking the about to explode bomb into a group of sanitized Octolings and they turned into ink on the ground.

TarTar started to visibly sweat. This is unlike anything he has ever seen. The fusion began plowing through the enemies with fists ablaze and bombs going left and right. The soldiers were all down as she stood in the room surrounded by bodies and covered in enemy ink. She wore it as a symbol of pride.

"Your turn." She said and walked towards him and he fled, making her growl. "Oi! I ain't done with you! C'mere you little bitch!" Cherry Bomb bolted. But then immediately stopped upon seeing Misery again.

"Looks like I missed one." She pulled out another splat-bomb and approached her.

Misery removed her costume and looked scared. "W-Wait... Please! I-I can help you!"

Cherry looked genuinely confused. "Now what in blazes are you going on about?"

"You see, the reason he brought you here was to create a diversion! He's almost ready to attack the city!"

Her tired eyes seemed to widen in fear. "I have to get back to that campsite. We gotta get moving!" As she ran, both Kira and Chili split from Cherry Bomb and fell to the ground, groaning and rubbing their eyes. Cherry Bomb was gone.

"Geeze, That felt rough..." Chili commented.

Kira nodded. "It felt like we were a part of each other."

"Guys, we have a major problem. Due to you guys fusing, TarTar is moving his plans from two week prep to three days!"

"THREE DAYS?!"

Kira looked concerned as she hoisted Chili to his feet and looked as Misery. "You mean to tell me we have three days to get things together before the big siege!?"

"We can't wait any longer. We have to teach the others about fusion before things get out of hand."

* * *

The camp was buzzing with worry. Kira and Chili had been gone for a long while without notice of return.

"What do we do? They have to be here somewhere!" Mint cried out.

Akari turned into her electric form and grabbed her whip. "Send a search party!"

"Right away!"

"On it!"

A familiar voice rang out throughout the camp. "Don't bother with it. We're here."

All heads turned towards the voice and ran towards them, embracing the two squids in question who supposedly went missing.

"We were so worried about you!" Mint cried out. "Where have you been?"

"No time to explain." Kira inquired. "TarTar is about to make his seige on the city and we need to stop him before it gets destroyed."

Captain Cuttlefish stumbled towards them. "How are you supposed to do that, little whippersnappers?"

Chili and Kira looked at each other. They nodded to each other before Misery spoke up. "I'll explain it.

* * *

The two stood on the battlefield with everyone watching. Kira looked at Chili with uncertainty.

Misery began explaining to Mint and Akari about the fusion process. "So since you guys have powers, you'll be able to fuse with each other. Chili and Kira can do it, and-"

"...Are you sure we did it right the first time? I think there's more to the fusion thing than just holding hands." Kira wondered as Misery rambled on.

Chili let out an annoyed sigh. "I ain't dancing for them. No way."

"We have to show them somehow." She urged.

He huffed. "Then have Akari fuse with you. The parasite over there did explain that as long as we have powers, we can fuse with each other, right?"

"I believe that's the gist of it."

"Good. Then get Kari."

Akari perked up at the sound of her name and went over. "You called?"

"You and I are going to try fusing together to create a more powerful being."

The purple haired octoling raised an eyebrow. "But... How?"

"Through dance?" Kira said with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

She sighed. "Okay... We can try."

As Kira began warming up to dance, her hair began shimmering and she began dancing. Demonstrating her dance in a modern way by showing off an array of leg kicks and spins, while moving in sync to her style of dance. Akari's hair began to glow as she danced eloquently, gliding across the ground and span as well.

Once the two made contact with each other, Kira lead Akari through the dance as one would lead the waltz; with grace and style. She tossed her partner in the air and caught her, the blinding aura surrounding the girls like it did with the two squids. The remaining members all watched in awe as the glow faded away, a new figure emerged.

Laughing, she spun around before striking a pose. "Gadget here! Ready to make her mark!"

"Now that's what I call power!" Captain Cuttlefish exclaimed.

"Greetings one and all, newcomers and previous fans alike, I was brought here to demonstrate the wonders of fusion!" Gadget was very energetic, almost like a ring-master or an announcer. She had longer, pastel blue hair that was styled similar to Kira's, but with more wave and the goggles Akari wore sat atop her hair. Her outfit was also very similar to Kira's; the sleeveless shirt with the medallion and knee high boots, she even had a bright purple jacket with fur around the collar as she tossed it aside. Her eyes shimmered a bright magenta color and with no sign of wings, but a backpack on her back.

"So what all is there to fusion?" Chili wondered, his arms crossed and his face bearing a bored, tired look.

Gadget booped his nose. "I'll be delighted to tell you all about it, my chunky fellow!" She ran over and threw two weapons into the air; The Sword and the Whip, both combining to make an long sword with hooks on the blade, and when extended, it turned into a grappling weapon.

"Your counterpart's weapon and your weapon can fuse together to become a much more powerful, in this case: The whip and the sword became the Latcher, or a sword that can grapple enemies. For example," She pointed in the direction of a dummy. "See that training dummy over there? I cannot reach it when I'm standing here. But if I use the Latcher-" Gadget made a swinging motion with the sword, like one would do with a fishing rod, and the sword had three long lines of black rope with hooks quickly fly out of the sword and wrap around the dummy, throwing it up into the air and slapping it onto the ground for a satisfying THUD noise against the ground.

"I am allowed to reach my enemies from a distance with the potential of not engaging in combat."

Everyone clapped and looked impressed. Awe-stricken from the display.

Mint walked up to Gadget, "What else is there that fusions can do?" They wondered.

"They can do all sorts of things that all vary upon the combined powers of the fusers. Since I fused with Darkness and Electricity, I can create electrifying crystals that can do some heavy damage, or bring some dark bolts of electricity down from the sky. Really, it all depends on both user's skills."

All nodded in understanding as Gadget unfused to reveal Akari and Kira.

"Oh damn, I don't think I'll EVER be able to get used to that..." Kira groaned.

Akari stumbled a bit, having Kira catch her before she fell. "I feel incredibly dizzy..."

A loud shriek snapped them out from their dizzy spell and all ran to the main camp where Aero and Aurora stood.

"What's wrong? What is it?!" Kira yelled.

Aurora looked fearful. "There are green figures! Attacking the city!"

"A-A-And they got huge weapons that will destroy the buildings!" Aero stuttered.

Kira and Chili looked at each other. "We're too late..." Kira whispered. "He made his move and we're not prepared.."

"There's no way we're letting him win! Everybody move into the city and start saving civilians!" Chili yelled. "Make sure to get as many as you can! Now let's go!"

* * *

End of Chapter


	7. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

* * *

Kira, Chili, Mint, Akari and the rest of the camp came upon the city being wrecked and chaos running amuck. The sanitized were slaughtering people and holding some hostage, and buildings were crumbling and falling apart due to the fires running ablaze inside them.

"Start rounding up civilians and get them back to the camp! Leave no one behind!" Kira yelled and summoned her dark form. The rest followed suit and ran into the chaos, getting people away from the chaos. Aero and Aurora were saved by Mint by pulling them out of the studio and getting two others named Chiffon and Claret and getting them out of the area.

Chili was on the prowl, escorting kids and other inklings and octolings away, but keeping his eyes peeled for TarTar. "Is that everyone?!"

Mint was flying above and nodded. "All the shops had been cleared out and it looks like there's-"

"HELP!" A little kid screamed.

Everyone looked up and saw Julie and her friends all huddled together

"Julie!" Mint and Chili cried out.

Kira got a bright idea. "Mint! We need to fuse!"

"Kira-"

"Trust me on this!" Kira yelled. She extended her hands outwards and grabbed Mint's hands and both spun around to create a new entity that zoomed up towards the children.

* * *

Julie was crying as she was hanging on for dear life, her friends holding onto her.

"H-Hang on Julie!" A xeno boy named Shark cried out, a fearful look in his eyes.

"I-I can't hold on much longer Shark!" She whimpered and yelped as she felt herself slipping. "I-I'm Shlipping!"

Her friends accidentally let go and screamed in terror as Julie fell. As Julie watched her friends get farther and father from her view, she felt herself stop. Opening her eyes, she looked up and saw an elegant figure holding her in their arms, a warm smile on their lips as they brought her down to the ground where Chili was.

"Are you alright?" Their soft, sweet voice wondered, wiping the tears off of Julie's cheek.

Julie nodded and looked at the figure in awe and amazement. They had long, light purple and blue hair with sparkles in their hair, a bejeweled headband made of gold and amethyst gems. Their dress was made out of starry fabrics that seemed to move all on their own and her eyes were violet with stars. Her wings were radiating with celestial energy, as they glowed a soft gold with stars.

"Stay low." They advised and flew back up to the other children, bringing them down to where Chili and Julie were. "I believe that was everyone. We must get them to safety before we deal with the threat of TarTar."

Chili looked at them funny. "How do you suggest we do that... uh... Who are you, exactly?"

"I am Solstice." They replied. "And I suggest by creating a diversion to save what is left of the city."

He nodded. "I'll be back soon. Don't have too much fun without me." He ushered the kids towards the camp grounds and Solstice let out an irritated sigh.

"I see your shenanigans haven't changed one bit." Sneered a voice. They turned around to see TarTar standing on his death machine, applauding them. "I applaud your efforts for getting everyone out of my killing range. But I have unfinished business with you!"

Solstice shook their head. "I'm afraid your business needs to be taken elsewhere. You do not need to destroy a city."

"You cannot say that!" Boomed the commander. "I am doing this place a favor by getting rid of it and its inhabitants!"

They sighed, "Then you leave me no choice." They summoned the scythe and the scepter and both merged together to create a larger scepter, the rod black and the orb that sat atop it had glowing crescent moons and shining stars, with gold rimming surrounding the orb, securing it in it's place.

"How ornate." TarTar chuckled. "But you are no match for my power!" He threw some switches and the large mech he was sitting on threw a punch towards them and they raised the scepter, a large galaxy petaled rose blooming in front of it, rebounding the punch and making it hit the mech, damaging it greatly.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that." They commented.

TarTar snarled and tried hitting them again, but the same thing happened; His punches and attacks were rebound, damaging him and his mechanized contraption.

"Green is such an ugly color on you." Solstice noted. "You'd look much better in black." Raising the scepter. a blast of black, purple, blue and white emerged from the orb and rained down on TarTar with a huge amount of pain. He screeched in pain as the blast kept going. The fusion winced a bit as they felt their nose bleeding and their side hurting.

A raging conversation started going on in their head between Kira and Mint.

_There's no way we can keep going! _Mint cried. _We need to unfuse!_

_Are you kidding Mint?! We almost got him!_ Kira shouted. _Just...A little more..._

_KIRA NO! You're going to kill us! Stop it! _Mint tried getting them to unfuse midway through the attack and Kira panicked.

_Mint! What the fuck are you doing?! We're destabilizing! Stop!_

Solstice stopped their attack, huffing and wheezing as they unfused into Kira and Mint, their weapons returning to their original state and TarTar, severely wounded and the mech destroyed, ran off into hiding.

Kira rubbed her head and looked at Mint, who shot her a dirty look. "What the hell Mint?!" Kira wondered. "We almost killed him! Why did you unfuse?!"

"Kira, you do realize we were injured, right?! You could have killed us with that kind of thinking!" They shouted. "I don't care if we were close!"

Kira growled. "I just want this war to be over, okay?! I never wanted to drag any of you into this mess and look where that got me!" Her fists shook and tears rolled down her face, her voice trembling and whimpering. "We've already had so many casualties and its just getting started! Julie almost died and the city is in ruins! I-I just wanted him dead so we could go and enjoy our lives before all of this... Before all the carnage... Just..."

Mint placed a hand on Kira's shoulder and they gasped as they felt Kira latch herself onto their body, sobbing into their shoulder.

"Oh sweetie... I-We should get you back to camp... okay?"

She nodded and was walked back to camp with Mint. Her heart hurting and her mind racing. Knowing she couldn't stop TarTar the first time made her question herself.

_Will I have to die to save them?_

* * *

The camp was bustling with all the survivors from the siege on Inkopolis. They were huddled together and worried as their murmurs echoed throughout the area.

Kira sighed in a worried manner as Captain Cuttlefish approached her. "Agent 4, I have some terrible news to bring..."

"How many dead?" She wondered.

Captain sighed. "Three hundred twenty five dead."

Kira's heart stopped briefly and she felt it drop. Her ears lowered and tears rolled down her face. "And...How many injured?"

"Currently there are fifty six in the infirmary being treated. We have a few of the survivors offer their services." He looked up and gently cupped her cheek. "Kira, you've been so brave throughout this entire ordeal. Bearing powers unimaginable to the normal inkling, going to save and protect your friends from the crazy phone, and making new ones. If anything, your strength deuring this trauma shows you're the leader people need."

Kira sniffled. "B-But I couldn't save those people... Cod... I-"

"Wars will always have blood and death that can't be prevented, no matter how much you to prevent it or even plead to Cod above." Captain told her. "The only thing you can do is lead these people to the future they need and deserve."

"He's right, y'know." Chili commented as he walked up next to them.

"Chili..." Kira's voice quietly yelped.

He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "War will have people dying. War will have blood. We can try and try to prevent it, but in this case, we can't prevent it. The most we can do is march through this and try to win it." He huffed and looked annoyed. "Thanks to dipshit, we've got to house these people and try to get some of them ready for fucking war. Fucking hell, I hate that piece of shit."

Kira sighed. "Me too, Chili. Me too..."

* * *

End of Chapter

Sorry this took so long, I was enjoying my winter break and I'll be going back to working a lot more very soon.


	8. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

* * *

2 months later...

_Inkopolis had fallen before Chaos Vs Order ensued. TarTar's sanitized has started it's take over of Inkopolis and there wasn't much we could do. The citizens that survived the first assault are now residing in camp, and training for the impending war._

_As I write, things continue to worsen._

_My anxiety rises, and with that, come random bursts of power. I can't seem to control myself and it's leading to TarTar taking an opening at any given moment. It's crazy... _

_I can't do this any longer. It's been over 2 months and we're still here... Fighting, dying, and yearning for freedom._

_I will write again soon._

_Your's Truly, Kira._

Kira slammed the book shut and held her head, sighing heavily. "Get a grip! Your team is relying on you! You have a war to win... I just gotta... AUGH!" A slam of the table and black crystals shot up from where she slammed her fists. "...Fuck..."

Mint, Chili, and Akari all watched from afar as Kira was having a mini-meltdown. Their body postures all tense and ready to spring into action.

"Guys, I'm really worried about Kira's mental health." The octoling said with concern.

Akari coughed out a snicker. "She's about to smash a table in half using her powers and that's your concern?"

As if on cue, the table in her room was broken in half and a pissed Kira standing there, scythe in hand, and dark form activated; dark wisps flying off her body.

"...Yes..." Mint, with wide eyes, muttered.

Chili let out a sigh. "I'll go talk to her."

"And what if she snaps your body in half like a toothpick?" Akari asked.

Chili chuckled. "Write my obituary, why don'tcha?"

"It'll most certainly read: 'Chili: Dies because of the contagious Retardism.'"

The squid cocked an eyebrow at the octoling. "Retardism isn't a real disease, ya dote."

"It's really contagious. I think it's a genetic problem." Akari replied.

He snarled. "Easy there, fish food. I like you but I might need to smack some sense into you."

"Try me, Hot-Head. I ain't afraid of you."

Mint raised their voice. "Both of you, stop it!"

Both huffed and crossed their arms, coldly staring at each other like they were going to rip each other's throats out the minute Mint turned their back.

"This is no time to be fighting!" They argued. "We have a war to fight and the last thing we need is to be at each other's throats! Sure, I don't like the tension either, but we need to work together, not tear each other apart. Right?"

"...Right..." Both muttered.

Mint smiled brightly. "Well good!"

Chili's ear twitched and he turned his head back to the tent. "Well shit. Kira's gone."

"Again?!" Akari exclaimed. "This is the fifth time this month she left to go cool off!"

"I assumed that because her room is half destroyed and I'm not hearing any screams of agony." The squid shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets and shuffled his feet before pressing on. "I'll go find her. I know where she is."

* * *

Kira was sitting on a ledge over the cliff that lead to the island they originally had their vacation at. The cool, crisp breeze blowing against her as she had her hero gear on her body. As Agent 4, her bright yellow windbreaker and glowing headphones glowed in the sunlight as she dangled her pearlescent kicks covered feet over the ledge. She had her hero roller sitting next to her. Her eyes locked onto something in her palm. The golden heart locket she always kept close.

_I feel so lost. _She thought. _I don't know what to do anymore... Everyone is dying... Everyone is depending on me... It's so overwhelming._

The squid let out a sigh and held her head in her hands. "I need help..."

"Mind if I provide some advice?" A scratchy voice wondered.

Kira jumped a bit as she found Chili sitting next to her on the cliff. But immediately went back to looking out at the cliff and holding her head.

Chili sighed. "Kira, we've-"

"I know... I know!" Her voice raised a bit and she felt a shaky breath escape her. "I just.. I-I can't shake off that feeling that, well..."

"You're a horrible screw-up?"

Kira looked at him and solemnly nodded.

"Well, lemme reassure you that won't be your problem. You're far from it. Despite the war n shit going down... You still have a decent head on your shoulders." He paused and looked to the side. "Whenever you're not a raging psycho, that is."

She chuckled sadly. "Thanks..."

"That's not a genuine smile. C'mon giggles, laugh for me." He said with a smirk.

A whine from her made her turn away.

"I'm gonna pull a Mint."

"Please for the love of CoOOAAAA!" Chili grabbed her and pulled her back onto the ground behind them, tickling her sides and making her howl in laughter. "I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU! BWAHA!"

Chili grinned mischievously and kept tickling her. "C'mon Giggles, you gotta be better than that~." He said playfully.

"YOU'RE AN ASS! STOP IT!" She squealed in between laughter as Chili relentlessly continued, kicking the air. "I-I'M SERIOUS!"

He grinned even more and pressed two fingers on the side of her neck, double tapping to make her squidform and held her by her tentacles. "How do you like me now?"

"I WILL BITE YOUR ANKLES I SWEAR!" She squawked. "PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN!"

Chili chuckled as he positoned her little form in his arms. "There. Doesn't that feel nice?"

She grumbled a bit. "Yeah..."

"That's what I wanna hear. So let's get you back to camp and we can have a warm drink together. Like old times."

"That sounds nice..." Kira purred as she got comfortable in Chili's arms. "Man, your hoodie is so soft."

"Don't take it or Imma have to break your knees."


	9. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

* * *

Chili and Kira got comfortable inside their bunk and was having some hot chocolate. Kira's hair messily thrown back into a swoop and wearing some pajamas as they played on the Switch she managed to save. Both were laying on the bed as the pro controller rested in her hand as she played a game called A Hat In Time.

"Damn. The Mafia in this game is a joke." Chili commented.

Kira snickered. "You should see Snatcher. He's my favorite. He's such a ham."

"Kinda like you?" He chuckled as she playfully smacked him upside the head. "I thought so."

Her eyes centered to the TV as she managed to reach the boss area. She paused the game and saved it, turning off her switch. "Say, can we talk?"

Chili raised an eyebrow. "About?"

"It's about when we fused... Y'know, as Cherry Bomb."

He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I was wonderin' about that too. It's so weird how we did it."

"Could it be the one thing we need to beat TarTar? Because when we fought off his goons, he looked pretty scared."

"Now that's something I'm not entirely sure on." He shifted his position on the bed. "I've been meaning to ask Layette about it. See what she thought about it."

"About what?"

Both squids jumped and turned towards the door. Layette was positioned against it, her hood off her head and her glasses resting on her nose. A book in her hand and a her Victorian attire. Her red eyes glowing with curiosity.

"Oi! Haven't you heard of knockin' before?" Chili retorted.

She chuckled. "I have. I just didn't want to interrupt you two during cuddling time~"

Both squids blushed in embarrassment as the vampire snickered. "Anyways, I overheard about you wanting to talk to me?"

"We learned how to fuse." Kira began.

Layette's eyes seemed to widen as she smiled. "You finally learned the technique of fusion. It's such a mysterious power that comes with these. It only happens when the two have a bond together and become another entity, stronger than the two could ever be when standing alone."

"So will it help us end the war?"

"Yes and No." She cleared her throat and sat down on the bed, reaching into her satchel for a leather book decorated on ornate swirling patterns and an indecipherable language.

"Now what's this bullshit?" Chili wondered.

Layette flipped through the pages and stopped at a page, labeled 'Fusion'. "Here. This teaches you about the power of Fusion and what it can do."

Both squids read through the book, taking information in and processing it. When they were finished, they looked at Layette.

"How do we do this though?"

"You have to let your heart and soul guide you."

Both groaned and Kira flopped back onto her bed. "That's such a hippy thing to say!"

Chili tilted his head a bit. "Did you smoke something before coming in?"

"Nonono. I mean it in a serious way too. If it's what my successor told me, I must follow her words of guidance too."

The squid threw his hands up in the air. "We're back to square one! Fan-FUCKING-tastic..."

Layette sighed. "I'm sorry I wasn't of much help.."

"Great! Fucking GREAT! We have nothing to-"

"Kira?!" Mint cried out and ran in.

Kira looked genuinely concerned and sat up. "What's wrong Mint?!"

"Salmonoids! Approaching the camp!"

Chili and Kira looked at each other and nodded. "Let's go!"

* * *

Outside the camp walls there was a large group of salmon approaching. They stopped upon a clicking noise and two people approached.

The first was a woman with silvery scales and long orange hair. Her eyes filled with determination as a smirk played on her lips. Her gear was not the normal coveralls. She wore a sleeveless shirt with pants, one pant-leg longer than the other. Her boots covered in spikes and a backpack on her back.

The second one was a buff male, similar to the Steelhead. Wearing a painter's mask and a bomb pack on his back. His eyes green, filled with a fire. Sharp teeth bared at them. He wore a sleeveless vest with different types of splat bombs on a sling across his chest. Long pants and even wore similar boots to the female.

The female squawked and the salmonoids stepped back. "Which one of yous is the leader 'ere?"


	10. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

* * *

"I am." Kira called, stepping forward.

The female salmonoid's fangs grew into a wicked smile. "Could've sworn that ol' cuttlefish was gonna be 'ere."

"Well, you must've heard wrong." She retorted. "Now who are you and what do you want?"

The female salmonoid chuckled. "How rude of me~. My name is Tenta Misile. And here is my partner, Boomer."

Chili snorted. "Okay, Boomer!"

The steelhead salmonling got pissed and hissed, getting ready to throw one a bomb.

"Chili!" Kira and Mint yelled, pissed.

Tenta held Boomer back and hissed, clicking her tongue and shrieking. He growled and slunk back. "We're not here to make the war worse." She commented. "We came to negotiate with ya."

Kira cocked an eyebrow. "What's your offer?"

"I prefer to speak in private about this matter. I just want to be reassured that you won't harm any of my fellow salmon as long as I am here." Tenta told her.

The inkling sighed. "I can reassure you, we will be hospitable to you and your kind so long as they cause no trouble."

"You have my word."

* * *

Inside the camp, Tenta had made herself comfortable in the chair across the table from Kira. Chili had to beg her to let him attend the meeting, but to his chagrin, Boomer was there as well, as he wanted to stay by Tenta while the deal went down. Both refused and had them wait outside.

"So what is it that you want from us?"

Tenta straightened some files and sat them down on the table. "You are aware that Grizzco is a place that robs us of our eggs, correct?"

She averted her gaze for a bit and huffed. "I am well aware.."

"As representative of the salmonoids and salmonlings, I'm willing to let that slip by under one condition."

"And that is?"

"After this war is over, I need to find a place to stay. I have to sell my modded weaponry somewhere."

Kira raised an eyebrow. "Why not go to your home and do it?"

"Your little war with that pile of green shit destroyed Port Mackerel and now I have to find other methods of making money. I want this war over as soon as possible so I can get back to the black-market-I mean get back to business."

Kira groaned a bit and huffed. "Okay, I see where you're coming from. I'm quite surprised to hear that the Port was destroyed, but if you can fight along-side us in this war, I'll make it worth your while. I'll have salmonlings stay in Inkopolis with all the rights they deserve and I'll even find you a place to live."

The salmonling sat on it and nodded. "Deal. But I want to sell my modded weapons as well. Allow me to make a little cash and I'll supply you warriors with the best I got."

"Deal." They both shook hands, signed a contract, and stepped outside, each dragging their friend aside to explain what happened.

Chili looked pissed and snarled. "You. What?!"

Kira pressed Chili against a wall, the whites of her eyes turning black and her pupils dialating, her violet eyes glowing, a blade pressed gently against his neck as Chili stared at her Dark Form. Sweat dripping from his forehead as he eyed death. "Now listen here you little shit. This war has gone on long enough and by damned I'm going to end it one way or another. You either get your shit together and accept them or I'm going to mount your sorry ass up on my wall for display!" She pushed him away and stormed off.

Chili felt a shaky breath escape him, his heart pounding. He shook it off and turned into his fire form, storming off to the training yard to practice combat on a dummy with force and rage. As he fought, a blazing inferno surrounded his body, as he screeched and incinerated the dummy with a single punch using his gauntlets.

"You needed to cool off?" A gruff voice asked.

"What's it to ya?" He snarled. He turned around to find Boomer leaning against a wall, staring at him. "Oh, it's you."

He chuckled. "And I thought I was the hot-head. You're literally on fire."

"Yeah, yeah... Laugh it up. Now get outta 'ere before I decide to use you as a training dummy."

Boomer growled. "Look. I know we ain't on the best of terms. But our leaders have decided what we should do. We gotta listen to them."

Chili crossed his arms, a tired, irritable look on his face. "And why the fuck should I take advice from a piece of sushi?"

Boomer sighed. "Don't you love her?"

Chili raised an eyebrow. "What now?" He asked, trying to keep up the tough act.

"She's doing this for the good of her people. And my leader is doing the same. I wouldn't be here talking to you if it wasn't important. Just pretend to get along. Just for her."

Chili clenched his fist tight and grinded his teeth. "_**Get. Out.**_" He snarled. "**_Now._**"

Boomer sighed once again. "Fine." He left without saying another word and Chili roared destroying another dummy. Tears running down his face and watching the inferno around him slowly die as he stared at the charred remains of the dummies.

"Cod..." He whispered. "What is wrong with me..?"

* * *

End of Chapter


	11. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

* * *

Kira and Tenta were alone at the beach that evening as Tenta was laying in the ocean.

"So lemme get this straight. You and yer friends were dragged to Hell and back, got powers, got dragged back down to hell again, fought the piece of shit, made friends with a literal vampire, and then The Second Great Turf War began just because the green piece of shit was throwing a shit fit?" She asked.

Kira shrugged. "Pretty much the TLDR."

"And I thought I was a crazy person."

"Tch. Tell me about it."

Kira saw her world burning before her eyes, her friends and family dead and TarTar about to sanitize her, when she started feeling hot tears run down her face and breathing heavily at a rapid pace.

The salmonling reached for the picnic basket and opened it up. "Okay, so I got the sandwiches from Mint Leaf and made sure them there fizzy drinks are prepped and-" Tenta looked horrified as she saw her friend rapidly breathing. "Whoa, you okay?"

Kira turned to her and yelped. "No! No I'm not okay!"

"What's wrong? Didn't expect me to bring ya dinna or?"

"No... It's uh... It's um... It's complicated.." Kira told her, calming down as she was relieved to see the real Tenta standing there. "I'll explain later."

"Good! Cuz I 'eard these 'ere are amazin' to eat."

* * *

Chili walked around the camp, his hands shoved in his pockets as something caught his attention. He raised his hand to get Captain Cuttlefish's attention. "Heyo Cap'n. You seen 4 as of late?"

"I saw her with that Tenta lady. The salmon told me she was gonna spend some quality time with her."

Chili's eyes widened as he grabbed his dynamo.

"Uh... Chili?"

"'Scuse me Cap, gotta go break someone's knees."

* * *

Kira and Tenta were laying on the beach, enjoying a soda and a few sandwiches.

"Damn. Mint knows how to make a good sandwich." Tenta told her.

She chuckled. "Right? Mint's an awesome cook. They're usually the one who takes over the cooking for Chili since he tried boiling an egg and burned it."

Tenta laughed. "He's that brainless?"

"Nah. He was never taught how to cook. He's getting better thanks to me and Mint giving him lessons and whatnot."

"Kinda figured." The salmonling said with a shrug. "Otherwise he'd be eatin' ramen for days."

As they continued their night together, Chili perched himself on the cliffside and watched. Eyeing Tenta as she and Kira were together.

_What the hell is she doing? _He wondered.

"So tell me more 'bout yer friend Chili."

"Well, despite being a hot-head and a dick at times, he does have a soft-spot." She told her.

"And yous taken?"

Kira nodded.

Tenta snapped her fingers. "Aw shucks. Was hopin' yous was single. Yer just too adorable."

"Shut the fuck up, no I'm not." Kira chuckled, blushing hard and playfully shoving her.

Tenta laughed and tackled her, both rolling around on the sand and Tenta was on top of her, pinning her to the ground as she smirked wildly. "Gotcha~"

"Aw man... Could've sworn you'd let me win. I'm just too adorable after all."

They laughed and got up. And to their dismay, Chili was standing over them. Arms crossed and ears low, his lips curling into a snarl. "What was that?"

Tenta huffed. "Easy there hot-stuff. Was just havin' some fun with yer girl. Can't a gal be with another one and not assume she's in a love triangle of some sort?"

"No, and I think you should go back to your tent right now." He said, his voice laced with venom. "Now."

The salmonling sighed. "Aight... See ya later Kira." She picked up the stuff from the picnic and headed back.

Kira was about to say something when she flinched, thinking Chili was going to slap her, but instead, just shoved her. "The fuck was that?!" He screeched.

"I wanted to get to know her better! We'll be working together after all, so why not get to know her?"

"She was hitting on you!" He shouted.

"And I told her I was taken!" She shouted back, making Chili quiet down. "I would never cheat on you, Chili. I love you more than anything. But it seems like this was the only night I could really sit down and relax, so I took it."

"I-I'm sorry.." He muttered.

Kira huffed. "Don't jump to conclusions like that, okay? For the love of cod almighty, I know you're stressed and tired... We all are... We just have to keep our cool until this is all over... Okay?" She brought him into a hug and rubbed his back. "Promise me that, okay?"

Nothing but silence.

"Chili..?"

"...I promise."

"Good." She said with a smile and kissed him. "If you wanna go on a date, just ask me dumbass."

He blushed slightly as she left for the camp, being left alone on the beach. He sat down and watched the waves roll up and kiss the sand on the beach before retreating back into the waters, the moon a glorious white spotlight softly illuminating the beach. He yawned a bit before laying back. "So this is why Kira loves the beach so much..."

_It's so soothing. She told me whenever she was upset and whatnot, she'd come here to cool off. Now I know why... It brings a lot of peace to mind. I gotta get my act together if I want to help end this war. It's not too late to squeeze in some relaxation time._

* * *

Tenta was hard at work in her tent as she circled a place on a map.

"Grizzco is completely empty right now. We go in and steal some illegal weaponry and we give it to the others so we can blast through them enemies."

Boomer growled. "That damn bear might be there though."

"No he ain't. That Grizzly's good as gone. We can make a run for it, take the weapons, and slip right back in. It's that easy."

"Okay, so what do we do about TarTar?"

Tenta pulled out her inkjet tenta-missile backpack and grinned wide. "We'll give him an explosive surprise."

* * *

End Chapter


	12. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

* * *

Tenta and Boomer had slipped out of the camp late that night and ran over to Inkopolis.

"Wow... They really did a number on this place..." Tenta muttered.

Boomer craned his head, nodding a bit. "Tell me about it."

As they treaded the empty streets of the city, they looked through each store.

"They sure did a number on this place..."

Tenta nodded. "As much as we would like to pillage and take everything from the stores, we have to snag those grizzco weapons." She pulled out a diagram. "The weapons will provide an easier way for the inklings to destroy TarTar's minions in mass waves. So we need to grab em."

"Did you ask Kira?"

"Pfft. Of course I did!" Tenta lied. "She's cool with this."

Boomer gave her the side eye. "She has no clue we're doing this, does she?"

"Yeah no. She is clueless." She sighed a bit. "Booms, I wish Kira was single... She's so damn fine. And cute..."

Boomer groaned. "Not this again.."

"Just hear me out a bit." Tenta begged. "She's an inkling with the power to eliminate huge scale threats! She's leading a war! She's strong and beautiful..."

Boomer pointed to her. "Easy there, your drool could flood a city."

She straightened up and groaned. "It's that damned hot-head. I want him outta the picture so she could be mine."

"You do realize, she loves Chili. She also loves you, but she made a commitment to him. You have to respect her boundaries."

Tenta sighed. "Yer right... I want her to be happy."

He patted her back. "You'll find someone eventually."

They arrived at Grizzco and saw the weapons and special packets hanging from a rack. Tenta's smile widened as she eyed the prize like a dog would a piece of raw meat. "There they is! Cod, I can just taste victory!"

"Is there anyone in there?"

She shook her head and ran inside. Grabbing the packs by the handful and shoving them into a small compartment on her inkjet bag. "Damn, Grizz is so greedy. Give thems children something kick-ass!" Tenta turned her head to Boomer. "Yo Boomer, grab them weapons fer me, will ya? I'm kinda occupied right now."

"Yeah Yeah, I'll get em." He grabbed umbrellas, blasters, buckets and chargers, slinging a charger on his back and putting the rest in a bag.

Tenta giggled. "We really hit the jackpot now!"

Sanitized guards entered the building and shined a light on them. "Hey! What are you doing here?!"

"It's an abandoned building with shit to steal, why ya asking?"

"You are trespassing! You will be brought to the commander for sanitizing!"

Tenta's smile widened into a giddy grin. "Oh very well~. Might if I show you my favorite thing before I'm horribly killed?" She pulled out a mini splatling and opened fire on the sanitized, cackling like a mad-man as she splatted them instantly.

Boomer's eyes widened. "Holy shit... We're in trouble now.."

"Just kill anything green! It'll be fun!" She ran out of the building and turned on her inkjet, raining bullets from above, she splatted multiple sanitized as they flooded the square. She giggled insanely and let out a howl of laughter. "This encounter's gonna be explosive!" She fired several tenta missles onto the sanitized, splatting dozens, while Boomer threw splat bombs, auto bombs and more, while igniting a large bomb atop his head to splat the large group with, who didn't have enough time to run away."

Boomer yelped. "Shit! We got more!"

"Let them come! I'll kill them all with my precious toys!" Tenta screeched and let out a war-cry, bringing thousands of salmonoids and salmonlings to the square, as her maniacal laughter echoed throughout the area. Drizzler Salmonlings coated the square in a murky green ink from their storms and smacked the octolings with their metal umbrella devices.

"I'M MARY POPPINS BITCH!" One cried out and splatted them with brute force.

A Scrapper steam-rolled several octolings and honked their horns in glee, making doughnuts in the square using their ink. Maws wasn't far behind and literally popped out of the ground and ate people. Flyfish, upon Tenta's command, open fired and killed several more sanitized.

The remaining sanitized began to retreat, but was cut off by a steel eel and killed all of them like a conga line.

The salmon let out a giddy cry/howl/screech as they had defeated a load of sanitized. Tenta landed and rallied her folks. "Fantastic job everyone! We perform like that in the war and we'll win for sure!"

They all cheered and screeched as they raised their weapons high and chanted in salmonoid.

"As the moon shines in our wake, we shall bring forth the dawn of a new day! Elivrio Ne Viio!"

Their dull roar turned into a loud cheer as they repeated her words. "Elivrio Ne Viio!"

Tenta grinned and cocked her weapon. "We have taken back the city we will soon call home, and very soon, upon Captain Kira's words, we will storm the sanitized camp and take back what's rightfully ours!" She screeched and laughed maniacally.

A cacophony of laughter rung throughout the city and they scampered about, starting to repair the town and preparing it for an upgraded camp.

"It feels so good to be chaotic~"

* * *

End of Chapter


	13. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

* * *

Mint woke up to the crazy hysterics of laughter and threw on their equipment, rushing to the plaza and gasping. Tons, thousands of sanitized corpses being cleaned up by the salmonoids and salmonlings. "What happened here?!" They exclaimed.

"Yooo! It's Mint Leaf!" Tenta went up to her and grinned. "Like what we've done with the place? Looks so much better now!"

"What are you doing out here? You'll alert TarTar about our position!"

Boomer commented. "A little late for that."

They huffed, pinching the bridge of their nose. "We're not supposed to be pulling this sh-stuff..." They stumbled on their words, trying not to swear like Chili or Kira. "It's not right!"

"War's a dirty game. And it's also a good contest saying, 'This is gonna be you if you don't watch your shit.'"

"It's not what Kira wanted!" Mint retorted.

Tenta grabbed their chin and grinned, revealing their sharp incisors. "It's what I wanted~"

Mint gulped nervously and shook, sweating nervously. "B-But..."

"Listen, I know what I'm doing isn't right morally. But in the sense of war, I'm making the right call. I bet if Kira comes here, she'll be excited to have the city at last so that the people can return to their homes." Tenta explained. "So let's just see what the cap'n has ta say about it all and we'll act upon that. Kay Mint?"

Silence.

"I said..." She grabbed Mint by their shirt and spoke again. "Kay, Mint?"

"Y-yeah..." They yelped as they were dropped and they whimpered. "I- I understand..."

"Good, good. Now run along~ I got work ta do."

Mint straightened their clothes and headed back to the camp.

_Trusting those salmon was such a bad idea... They're going against our demands and attacking the sanitized! If this continues, they'll over-run the city for sure._

**BOOM! CRASH! BAM!**

Up above, Mint screamed as Kira and TarTar were in the air, battling it out. Kira was stabbing at him and trying to disarm him, but was blasted back and thrown atop a mountain.

Kira coughed and shakily got up, eyeing TarTar with the intent to kill.

"Still inferior as ever, little squid." He cooed.

Kira raised her sword. "I'm ten times better than you'll ever be!" She summoned crystals and managed to land a few scratches, while the two duked it out, TarTar managed to lock her sword against his scepter and pressed the orb into her shoulder, making her howl in pain and biting his neck, where he screamed and let go, making Kira fall down and holding her shoulder as her wings were raised. "You fucker!.. Ack!"

He laughed maniacally. "Better see to it or else you'll be under my control sooner than you thought~!"

"I'll never bow to you!" She pierced his chest and he yowled in pain, growling.

"I'll be back!"

Mint rushed up to her and cradeled her injured body. "Kira! Are you okay!?"

"Just bandage me up and let me fuck him over!"

Mint shook their head. "No. You're going to the infirmary!"

"I refuse! I-" Kira immediately passed out in Mint's arms as they used their powers to make her relaxed.

"Infirmary. Now." They told her in a stern manner. The octoling carried her all the way to the infirmary and wrapped her up in gauze.

As Mint was about to leave, they were ambushed by two sanitized, they screamed and flailed, hoping to get free, but they were restrained long enough that they passed out and were dragged off.

Chili saw them and proceeded to approach and attack, but he was stopped short by a stun gun to the back and fell over, his vision blurring in and out.

"Get the injured one." Was all he heard before blacking out.

Akari tried fighting back, but was overpowered and taken as well, the sanitized leaving the camp with their prisoners in tow.

* * *

Kira groaned and sat up, her body heavy and head throbbing. The numbing sweet taste lingering in her mouth as her vision became clear. She was in a dungeon.

"N-No! No!" She ran up to the door but gagged and was pulled back. The cold iron pressed against her neck being a collar, with a chain attatched to the back. Her wrists were cuffed as well, their chains at the back of the wall. And her clothes swapped for the metro leather that smelled of heavy chemicals. She growled and pulled on her chains more, hoping they'd budge, but then she saw TarTar at the door, grinning like a mad-man. "Hello Kira. So nice to have you adorn in chains again."

"And it's nice to know you're still an ass... What do you want?"

"Just came to tell you about what's going to happen to your friends... You see, we thought about sanitizing them and decided not to since then, you wouldn't listen. But then my assistant came up with the best idea to just enslave the four of you!"

Kira roared and pulled on her chains. "I'd rather die than serve you!"

"Such a shame... Too bad Misery thought the same way.."

"What do you..?" Kira saw him holding her almost dead body and threw her in, Kira screaming bloody murder as tears poured out of her eyes as she stared at the mangled mess of skin and ink. "YOU FUCKING MONSTER!"

"And that will happen to your friends as well if you don't submit!"

Kira's eyes diverted to the three screens, each member dressed in leather and chains as they cried out for Kira, already wearing some nasty bruises. "Guys! No!" She gasped and shouted. Seeing the hooks on one of their rib-cages was Mint, who was screaming in pain as they hung there, a few inches off the ground and blood dripping onto the floor. "Please don't do this... PLEASE!"

"Let them go! Let them go now!" Kira begged.

"Their torment ends when you give in." He cooed.

Chili was having a substance poured onto his blotched arm, his screeches in pain echoed throughout his chamber as he struggled against his binds, his skin burning and his arm close to being severed off.

"You're hurting them! Please stop!" She sobbed.

Akari was crying in pain as she was being electrocuted and slowly being submerged in salt water. Her screams and sobs of agony piercing Kira's ears.

"Stop! STOP!" Kira cried as she struggled.

"Say it then! Say it now!" TarTar commanded.

"I surrender! I'm yours, you win!" Kira screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Good... You'll be here until you die." He laughed.

The trio of cephalopods have never screamed louder than they did at that very moment.

* * *

End of chapter


	14. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

* * *

Kira was sitting alone in her cell, feeling her heart sink as she gazed back at the dying Misery. She ran to her after TarTar left and cradeled her close. "Mis! Mis... Come on, stay with me... please!"

Misery coughed. "I-It's too late Kira... H-He won..."

"No... Nonono... Please... Please don't die! I-I promise I won't let him win.. Please... please..." Kira felt fresh tears pour down her face as she used what power she could muster and pressed a crystal close to Misery. "Heal her... Heal her please... The shadows, I ask please!" A flash of light shot from the crystal and into Misery, healing her to where she could only speak soft words, holding off her death for a few more seconds.

"Thanks... But you're trying to stop the inevitable... Please just let me move on..." Misery begged.

Kira held her hand. "No I won't let you... We still have the war to win..." She gasped as TarTar's minions moved the chains on Kira's wrist to be behind her and grabbed her chain as they dragged her out of the room, kicking and screaming, leaving Misery to die.

She eyed everything through blurred vision and the throbbing in her head. Rows and rows of empty cells. The chains rattling as she walked and felt the pulsing sensation around her neck. She was finally brought to the maximum security cells at the end of a dark hall, each cell holding her friends as they all gazed up at her, saddened to see her being brought to them. The cells had clear wall doors, letting everyone see each other. Refusing to look at them, she quietly cried. "I'm so sorry I failed you..." They threw her into the final cell facing all the other cells and hooked her chains up to the walls. They left and Kira sat on her bed, weeping, mourning the loss of the dark inkling who got them through all of the mess, who saved them from TarTar, and who helped her find her way as a hero.

"Why did you give up..?" Chili quietly asked.

"...He would have killed you if I didn't..." She replied. "I...I didn't want to lose anyone else.."

Mint asked next, 'What do you mean Kira?"

"Misery is dead... TarTar killed her..." She sobbed, her wings fluffing up as she positioned herself on the bed.

All fell silent and looked at each other.

"Misery... dead?" Akari muttered, her face in shock as she sat down and held her head.

Mint began to cry a bit too, trying to hold it back. "She was so sweet.. She got us so far in this part of our lives..."

"I didn't like her, sure." Chili said. "But I never wanted death brought upon her."

Akari stood up, her chains rattling. "The camp is completely vulnerable... They know where it is and we need to warn them about TarTar's next move.."

"But how?" Mint wondered. "We're stuck here, far from any source of communication!"

The octoling fell silent and sat back down, sighing. "Well shit..."

Chili threw his hands in the air. "Come on guys, we can't seriously give up now!"

"Don't you see Chili?! TarTar won! He has us imprisoned! Our camp is in danger! Inkopolis is completely destroyed!" Kira shouted, tears in her eyes and pain in her voice. "I failed the prophecy and I failed you guys! I couldn't save Misery and now everyone else is in danger!"

All looked horrified to hear her scream as she fell down on the floor, twitching as her collar beeped twice. She found herself on the floor, sobbing quietly.

"I... I can't do this anymore..."

The sanitized guards came in and pointed to Mint and Kira. "You two. Come."

Both were tossed ot of their cells and their collar chains attached to each other and their arms bound, both heading towards TarTar's room.

"Kira... As sad as I am that we lost... This isn't your fault." They whispered.

"Yes it is." She whispered back. "I let him win... I should have fought more... I should have saved Misery..."

"Quiet!" The sanitized kicked at Kira and she winced in pain.

"You're far braver than I would've been."

The sanitized kicked Mint next, making them yelp. "I said quiet!"

"Ow! okay, okay!" They whined.

_"K..Ki...ra..." _A distorted voice called to her through her mind.

_Who's there? _She wondered.

_"Kira? Kira?!"_

Kira immediately knew who it was and perked up. _Layette!_

_"Where are you?! Everyone is worried sick!"_

_I'm in prison... TarTar kidnapped me and my friends and now we're stuck..._

_"Prison?! Oh cod it's worse than I thought! Hang tight, I'm rounding up all of our forces and we're making an assault."_

_What?! Nonono! Don't do that! He'll be expecting that!_

_"Then what do I do?"_

_I have no idea, infiltrate the base and draw very little attention to yourselves. Just do something that won't result in your death!_

_"Gotcha. I'll be there in two days tops."_

_Two days?! We might be dead by then!_

_"Then hold on. I'll be working my magic one way or another."_

And as Kira exited her thoughts, the doors opened to see TarTar on a metal throne, holding his scepter in hand and having the guards force his prisoners to their knees.

"Well well... Look who it is~"

Mint glared at TarTar. "You killed Misery you stupid son of a-"

He laughed. "Aw~ Little 10,008 is mad at me~. You wanna cry about it? Huh?"

"I'll give you something to cry about!" Kira yelled as TarTar pressed a button on a remote, sending a shock wave through her collar and electrocuting her."

"Kira!"

he laughed. "Oh how I love doing this! Your slave work will begin very soon you two. But we need to give you proper markings."

Both eyes widened as they feared for the worst.

* * *

End of Chapter


	15. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

* * *

"Wh-What?!" Mint cried out.

"No!" Kira shouted.

He laughed crazily. "10,008 and 66, you two will be the first to receive your marks. Then we'll have your friends join you."

"No! I won't let you!" The inkling screamed. TarTar immediately lunged for her and yanked on her collar chain, making her gag and fall on the floor, coughing.

"Now listen here you insignificant waste of space. I have been ever so kind to you and your repugnant friends as to only enslave you. So if you'd rather serve me as an emotionless corpse, you'd best reconsider what you say to me. Got it?"

"Y-Yes..." She yelped as he dropped her, and took a gasp for air. Mint getting close as they could to Kira before they were hoisted into cages, forced to sit on their hands and knees as they were wheeled into the lab.

"M-Marks?" Mint stuttered. "Is this going to hurt?"

"Oh most certainly. We're carving your number into your arms and then we spray rubbing alcohol on it to prevent infection." He explained.

Mint whimpered and curled up into a ball, pressing their back far away from the doors and Kira snarling.

"You won't get away with this."

He smiled evilly holding her chin. "Oh but I already have~!"

He opened the cage doors and gestured to the tables. "Get on! Now!"

Both whimpered and grimaced as their exposed skin touched the cold metal table and were strapped down. Several syringes of sanitized ink lying around, both making them nervously sweat and shake.

"I'll break you easily Frail." He joked. "But the heroine herself, will require a little more work."

Kira's lips curled into a snarl as she thrashed against the restraints. "Just stop already! You've already won! What more do you want?!"

"I've never truly won until I have broken my enemies. Start carving!"

Mint's tentacles curled up in fear as they thrashed. "I-I don't want to die!"

"You have nothing to worry about. He's more concerned about me than he is about you." Kira groaned. As soon as she said that Kira's arm was sliced open and she let out an ear piercing scream. "FUCK!" She clenched her teeth as fresh tears started forming in her eyes. The carving was a long process for Kira, slowly cutting the numbers into her arm. To prevent infection, they poured rubbing alcohol on her cut up arm, making her howl in pain.

Mint yelped and looked away, only to be greeted by the same excruciating pain and yowled in pain as they bit their tongue, holding back their cries.

An hour passed and they sighed a breath of relief. Their respectable numbers carved into their arms and their arms throbbing from the excruciating pain they just endured.

"Looking nice." TarTar chuckled. He grabbed Kira by her good arm and she struggled. "Take Frail to their cell. I've got unfinished business with her."

Mint struggled against the guards as they cried Kira's name out, watching her fade from their line of sight as they were heaved into their cell. Alarm raising in the others as they noticed Kira didn't return.

"Where's Kira?!" Akari anxiously wondered.

"TarTar has her..." Mint muttered, shuddering. "He's going to try and break her."

Chili snarled. "Let me out so I can tear out his limbs one by one! I'll do it!"

"No! You try hurting him and he'll kill Kira on the spot! We have to play this smart!" The octoling warned him.

He crossed his arms and huffed, furious at his current situation. "So my girlfriend could possibly be dead and you want me to play smart?! What kind of drugs did he stick in ya, huh?!"

"Did you say-?"

"I know what I said, shut up!" He snapped. "I need a way out so I can get to her!"

Akari looked up. "We're next for our numbers. Maybe we can use this time to survey our surroundings and get to Kira somehow."

* * *

TarTar grinned as he tied Kira up, having her arms above her head and her wings drooping low, her darkened eyes following his every move as she hovered over the ground just barely out of her reach. The room she was in smelled like bleach and seeing her shudder made the commander grin.

"You've always been a pain in the back. And now that you've surrendered to me, I'll be getting my ultimate revenge~"

Kira growled lowly. "You're sick, ya know? What is it that you want from me that you had to take such an interest in me for?"

He smiled evilly and grabbed her chin, "You see, my dear, there is a portal; a void beyond inkling-even human knowledge that only your powers can help me open up. All it requires is that little incantation Misery knew."

"Good luck getting it, because you killed her." She remarked, resulting in a slap to the face.

He narrowed his eyes. "Keep that up and I'll kill you." He grabbed a book and opened it's pages. "Ah~ Here it is~!" He threw the book in front of her and Kira's eyes widened upon seeing the incantation in the pages, etched in fine ink and she could feel it's horrible presence linger like a horrible odor.

"Start memorizing that incantation, because you'll soon be hooked up to a device where you'll be bound by chains to make sure you don't turn this against me."

"N-No..." Kira muttered. "I won't do it..."

TarTar slowly turned to her. "What was that?"

"I said no!" She yelled, kicking him back. He yelped and crashed into some pipes that burned his arms and back.

He snarled and turned on the electric collar, making her scream in pain and cry as she felt her vision growing fuzzy and her eyes growing heavy. Her mind becoming incapable of forming coherent thoughts, but before she blacked out, he turned off the device and she heaved. Tears pouring from her eyes and choked sobs escaping her throat.

"You will never tell me no. Is that clear?"

Kira felt these words shakily escape her lips. "Y-yes s-sir..."

He grinned malevolently and let her fall to the ground, her pained yelp was music to his ears as he locked her in the empty, quiet room with only the echoes of her cries to keep her company. Burns appearing around her neck from the collar and her body slowly becoming numb. She felt herself holding onto the book as she started taking in the knowledge the deadly incantation had to offer.

* * *

End Chapter


	16. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

* * *

_Meanwhile..._

Tenta paced back and forth in the camp, while Layette and Captain Cuttlefish stood side by side watching the salmonling groan and complain.

"Kira and her friends got captured right under our noses! I oughta turn that phone inta scrap metal!" She huffed and turned to them. "We gotta get em outta there before somethin terrible happens to em!"

"Now remain calm Tenta..." Layette cautioned. "We're going to be dealing with a massive army of sanitized. The area will be heavily guarded, so our best plan of action is to get them out of there silently."

Tenta gestured towards two dark inklings with a dark form and an ice form. "You twos! Yer Kira's parents, right? Aren't ya gonna come help us free 'er? Or at least contribute in some way!?"

Alaric sighed. He stood there with his wings tucked in. "As much as we'd like to help, this is her fight and her fight alone. We can prepare her for it, but she must kill TarTar on her own."

"What do I tell Kira?" The vampire wondered.

Kira's mother sighed as well. "Hopefully she will understand why we seemingly disappeared again..."

"I understand completely. Go back to your study now. We will handle this."

She nodded and watched the two disappear back into the depths of the worried camp.

"Captain Cuttlefish, do you have any thoughts on this matter at hand?"

He stroked his chin. "Well, we can take the metro and see if there's a hidden entrance to the base there."

"Good idea." She said.

"We can ambush 'em from under the ground! It's brilliant I tell ya!" Tenta cheered.

Layette gestured to Boomer. "Boomer, rally up the salmon and others who are willing to go to the camp. Have them ready to flood the camp."

"Gotcha." He ran off towards his team.

The vampire yelped as she felt Myskia cling onto her shoulder. "It's too risky Myskie... I don't want you hurt."

The little fluffy bat squeaked in protest.

"Hmm... Alright. But stay close, you hear?" She let her pet nestle up in her cloak as she grabbed a book endorsed with gold trimmings and a large glass eye in the center. "This will be for the larger waves."

Tenta slipped on her backpack and grinned. "Lead the way Cap'n!"

* * *

Chili and Akari were groaning in pain as they rubbed their arms. Their respectable numbers 003 and 92 carved into their flesh.

"I hope Kira's okay..." Akari whimpered.

Chili's ears lowered as well, the safety of his significant other in jeopardy and his anxiety levels through the roof. "Fucking hell, can we just break out of here and get to her?!"

"We can't. We can't take on those guards by ourselves. Especially with our powers restricted and our weapons confiscated." Mint explained.

"Well, we gotta do something!" He yelled. "I'm not going to sit here with my thumbs in my ass waiting to see if my girlfriend is dead or not!"

"You-"

"DON'T FUCKING EVEN AKARI!" Chili roared.

Akari got up quickly, making her chains rattle. "Don't give me that kind of lip shit-face!"

"You wanna fucking go?!"

"STOP!" Mint yelled, silencing the two's bickering. "I'm so sick of you two arguing! Our friend is in danger and instead of staying calm and thinking reasonably, you're at each other's throats! This is not what Kira needs right now! Now is it?!"

"N-No..." Chili muttered.

"Of course not..." Akari replied.

Mint crossed their arms. "You guys really need to use your brains. I'm very ashamed of you."

As they were about to say something, the guards walked in and started prepping them to be escorted. "He wishes to see you."

"Oh boy..." Akari muttered.

* * *

Kira felt her neck throbbing, anticipating another electric shock or another beating. Her chains slowly moved over the cold metal platform she was forced to sit on, staring at her wrists and ankles as she felt hopeless. She looked up and saw her friends who looked horrified to see her.

"O-Oh my c-cod..." Mint whispered.

"K-Kira..." Chili muttered, tears in his eyes.

The inkling in the chamber before the three sat there, her eyes downcast and her breathing slow. The wetness on her cheeks highlighted where tears once poured from her eyes.

"What have you done to her?!" He screeched.

TarTar laughed. "It's finally time for me to take over for good! I will end the war using the power of darkness to claim my prize!" He powered up the device and Kira felt her dark form suddenly appeared and she grunted, the weakened inkling's face painted in fear. "Now say the incantation! Unleash the power!"

Mint's eyes widened and they screamed. "KIRA NO!"

Kira's eyes darkened and the whole place began falling in darkness. "Wither and decay... End their destiny..." She started. "Make the colors fade and set the spirit free..."

The crew fell to their knees and began feeling weak.

"K-Kira!" Chili coughed. "Please s-stop! Kira..!" He coughed and strained his voice as they watched helplesly as Kira sang the incantation. Her hair turning pitch black and her eyes black voids. Her wings raising up.

_Wither and decay_

_End their destiny_

_Make these colors fade_

_And set the spirits free_

The portal began opening and TarTar smiled evily

_Take what has been hurt_

_Show them no mercy_

_Let their blood be spilled_

_And set the darkness free_

_**The Darkness Free**_

Before the helpless Chili's eyes, he saw a monster formed from pure shadows and a huge monster crawled out from the portal as Kira stared blankly. The chains constantly rattling from the air circulating from the room.

"D-Dear cod..." Akari whispered. "It-It's..."

TarTar grinned. "Your worst nightmares come true."

* * *

End of Chapter


	17. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

* * *

"Now! Kill them!" TarTar commanded.

Chili managed to peel himself off of the floor and helped Mint and Akari to their feet. "What now?!"

Akari nodded and pointed towards the creature. "I'll distract the creature! You get Kira free!" She ran to a long rod pipe and called to it. "hey ugly! Come and get me!"

The creature screeched and followed after Akari, while Chili and Mint ran to the container.

"I need the chains off to access the panel!" Mint cried.

Chili broke the chains off of a metal console and took off his own. "Start working, Mint. I'll get Kira out."

The octoling typed furiously on the console and opened the container while Kira chanted the incantation over and over again quietly, tears pouring down her face.

"Kira, I'm gonna get you out-" He grabbed her arm and yelled as his bad, splotched arm had black lines running across his skin before quickly fading.

TarTar laughed. "You try freeing Kira and you'll die my boy!"

Chili snarled. "It's a risk I'm willing to take!" He started unhooking the chains from Kira's body, screaming in agony as the blackness started to devour his arm from the quiet chanting of the incantation. He only stopped after it reached a certain point in his arm, making him yowl in pain and fall back, holding his arm as it burned and left scorch marks. He only had one more chain to remove from her body, but he would lose his arm if he did, as the blackness covered his hand up until the beginning of where his elbow would be.

"Chili!" Mint cried.

"Uh, guys?! Sometime today would be nice!" Akari yelped as the beast smacked her weapon away from her and approached with each huge step, gnashing it's teeth at her.

The injured inkling heaved and groaned. "I gotta.. Get that last chain off of her..."

"You'll lose this arm if you do!" They told him. "Please! We'll find another way to snap her out of it!"

Akari screamed as the creature grabbed her and took a fine liking to her right leg. He started clawing at it, making Akari cry in pain. With Mint's quick thinking, they broke the glass encasing the fire ax, wincing in pain as they had glass embedded into their elbow, and chucked the ax towards the creature, landing directly in the forehead. With it distracted, Akari climbed up it and finished it off by removing the ax from it's bleeding forehead and chopped at it's throat, making it fall and evaporate back into the portal.

The creatures inside were not happy and began to crawl out.

"Shit! We can't handle another round!" The octoling yelped.

Chili finally ran up and pulled out the final chain on Kira's body making his gasp as his arm went completely numb. Kira fell out of the container and her dark form faded away as he grabbed Akari's arm using the good arm and screamed at her as the black lines slowly traveled up his arm past his elbow. "CUT IT OFF!"

"What?!"

"You heard me! Chop off my arm! Please!"

Just as he pleaded for help, a loud blast from the wall and the machine powering down revealed Layette. Her hood down and the cloak flying behind her.

"Layette!" They all cried.

The vampire squid blasted off their restraints and Mint immediately went into light form, using all of their energy to stop the shadow inflicted wound from spreading. They yelled as they used all of their energy to stop the blackness and restore his arm up. But the octoling immediately fainted and Chili kept them and Kira close.

Akari turned into her electric form and began tearing into the sanitized, alongside Tenta and Layette.

Kira's eyes finally opened and she gasped, wincing in pain from all of her previous injuries hitting her like a cement truck.

"You stay low." Chili ordered. "You're not ready for a fight."

"Your hand!" She cried, black lines forming a symbol on his hand.

He nodded. "I know. Don't worry about it."

Captain Cuttlefish was using his Bamboozler and cheered as he blasted some away. "Come on kiddos! We gotta go!"

All were rushed into the train and the train zoomed off from the base. They set up a small base in an abandoned station and took a deep breath of relief.

Kira and Mint admitted to beds while Chili and Akari were positioned against a wall.

"Took ya long enough." The inkling commented under his breath.

Tenta snarled. "Thems damned sanitized were in the stations already, so we 'ad ta take dem out first before we could get to ya."

Akari held her leg and hissed in pain. "Damn... My fucking leg..."

"We can walk it off, can't we?" He replied with a small smile.

She nodded with a smile. "We sure can."

"Now we wait until these two are better..."

* * *

End of Chapter


	18. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

* * *

It took some time, but Kira and Mint finally came to as they slowly sat up on their make-shift beds.

"Good, you two are awake." Layette commented.

Kira groaned. "Everything hurts..."

"I just want to stay here for a while..." Mint added.

Layette pulled out a strange purple drink and poured two small cups. "Take small sips. This will ease the pain."

Both began drinking the sweet concoction slowly as Layette opened her book again. "Now Chili, show me your wrist."

He raised a curious eyebrow. "Why?"

"Just do it." She urged.

Groaning, he presented his hand to her and she held it while using her powers to flip through the pages of the book.

"'The symbol of shadows... If an inkling has been infected with dark magic this symbol will appear on their hand. To remove the mark one must bring the darkened energy out...'" She turned to Chili. "I hope you're ready for what I'm about to do." She gave him a rag to bite down on and had the book levitate in front of her while she traced her fingers on the symbol, as if she were moving a planchette. Chanting something in an ancient language, the dark symbol on his wrist began swirling around Layette's fingers and out of his body. Chili screamed into the rag as she kept chanting and moving her fingers, until the energy his arm had endured was locked into a glass vial.

"Thank you for your patience." She commented before he spit out the rag and yelled.

"Good lord you could have warned me you were going to do that!"

"And if I told you I was going to be ripping that dark energy from your bloodstream you would have said no anyways." She replied.

Mint tilted their head. "So wait. Why don't I have that symbol thing on my wrist like Chili did?"

"Because you're the opposite of the shadows; Light. Your energy immediately repels the force. So when you healed him, it quickly evaporated from your system."

Mint smiled. "Neat."

"Okay, now we have a bigger problem." Kira started. "We can't wait around any longer. We have to finish the war now."

Tenta crossed her arms. "We got the forces... We just need a new strategy."

"An ambush." Kira quickly commented. "If we get a head start towards the next battle location, we can have the salmonoids hide along the path and rain terror from above while the stronger forces cover the front line."

Akari nodded. "Good plan."

"Kira, you're the only one who can kill TarTar. Are you sure you can do it?" Layette told her.

"Chili and I will help the others take care of the sanitized as Cherry Bomb. Once we finish there we'll defuse and I'll fight him on my own."

* * *

The battle location: Molusk Mountain Keep

* * *

The sanitized, alongside TarTar, were making their way along the path. The salmonoids and dark cephalopods got their early enough to set up around the gorge. All of them armed with splatterscopes, chargers, and splat-bows. Cherry Bomb was waiting from a cave system, alongside Akari and Mint.

"Mint, you need to be behind the troops and heal them whenever you can. Akari, you're more of a support so stay in the wings or get real close up."

Both nodded and prepared their weapons. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to prep the final battle with good ol' Tary there. And make sure he gets a nice wake up call." Cherry Bomb made her way towards the front of the gorge and stayed hidden, looking above to where Tenta was.

Tenta nodded, and Cherry nodded, the soldiers aiming their weapons, and the stingers locking onto their targets.

"Steady... Steady..."

They got into a position best suited for the good results they needed. "Ready... Aim..."

As soon as TarTar's troops crossed the threshold, Tenta screeched and everybody open fired onto the unsuspecting troops and the final battle begins

* * *

End of Chapter


	19. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

* * *

Corpses started dropping to the ground as the sanitized were completely caught off guard. Tenta let out another screech and all the mobile salmons and dark cephalopods ran down into the gorge to fight, while the chargers all fired from above, and picking their enemies off one by one. Akari followed suit and Mint stayed hidden to watch for any fallen soldiers. Cherry Bomb was up and personal in TarTar's grill and knocked him off his horse by kicking a splatbomb into his chest.

"You!" He snarled.

"Missed me Tary~?" She sneered. "Because I didn't!"

He looked baffled. "How did you live?! The dark energy should have killed you!"

Cherry smiled. "I have my ways." She summoned her weapon; a flaming scythe and sliced his horse's body in half, revealing a mechanical/cyborg like creature's parts spilled onto the pathway. "You fuckin' nasty." She commented as she tried swinging at him. He dodged her swings miraculously and he grinned as he kicked her back, making Cherry yelp and toss a bomb opposite to where she thought he was running, it exploded on him and he roared in pain.

"You fool!" He snarled and went to zap her using the scepter, but she dodged by flying up using her flaming wings and rained bombs from above using her bomb rush.

"This'll be great!" She yelped as she was knocked out of the air by a blast and groaned. "Ow..."

TarTar made his escape to the mountains, making Cherry snarl. "Fuck... Okay, new plan." Cherry defused and the two inklings stood side by side.

"What are you doing?" Chili wondered.

Kira turned into her dark form and raised her wings. "Help the others with the sanitized! I have a bone to pick with that phone!" She raced after him in the sky and locked her vision onto him. She nose-dived out of the air and tackled him from where he stood and immediately threw some punches. "You. rat. bastard!" She yelped as she was thrown off and immediately countered his strike with her scythe. "It's just you and me! Let's dance!"

* * *

The sanitized were all taken care of and the salmon cheered and the cephalopods cheered.

"We did it!" Mint cheered. "We won the war!"

Layette shook her head. "We're not out of the woods yet, we have to wait for Kira to kill TarTar."

Everybody gasped.

"She's fighting him alone?!" One yelped.

"She's fish food!"

"What do we do?!"

Layette raised her hands. "No one panic! She's got this! For now, secure yourselves in case we need to help her out!"

* * *

Kira and TarTar fought for thirty minutes. Neither side relenting. Kira released heavy amounts of magic while TarTar slowly drained his scepter of it's power. Both of them were bleeding from the various cuts on their faces, arms, and bodies. Bearing scars, burns, and bruises. The dark hero heaved as she glared into her opponent's eyes. "Getting tired?" He commented with a smirk.

She snarled. "Not even... close!" She rushed at him again and was easily overpowered by TarTar, thrown to the side and her weapon tossed from her hands. "No..!"

He placed a foot on her chest and she immediately threw him off, rushing for her scythe, but was tripped and kicked in the face by the commander, coughing blood as she raised her wings, watching him approach.

"You've always been a formidable foe, Kira Yoru. I've never met any subject quite like yourself who's went so far as to start a war with me."

She grunted. "What other choice did I have? If I let you win, I'd already be dead."

"And under my guidance~"

"Shut up you stupid piece of scrap-metal!" Kira roared and kicked him back one final time, before trying once again to grab her weapon. While she was successful this time, she was blasted in the chest by TarTar and let out a pained howl as she fell to the ground, clutching her chest. Yelping, she saw green energy chains wrapping around her wrists and neck, pulling against them and watching TarTar approach.

"It's time I end this war. Say goodbye to Inkopolis!" He raised his scepter to strike her.

Kira closed her eyes and accepted her fate to die. _Well, this is it... I did my best to win and I failed... I'm sorry Chili... Mint... Kari... Misery... Tenta... I failed you..._

She heard the noise of piercing skin. But felt no pain. She opened her eyes and gasped in terror as she saw someone standing in front of her. The brittle form of a cuttlefish before her. Dropping his bamboozler cane and blood dripping from the scepter's tip that pierced his skin. Hot, fresh tears poured down Kira's face as she screeched as loud as she could. His pained groaning as he was thrown to the side like a rag-doll.

"**_CAPTAIN!_**"

* * *

End of Chapter


	20. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

* * *

Kira watched in terror as Captain was killed before her. "You monster!" She broke free from the energy chains and turned her scythe into a sword, stabbing TarTar in the torso and pushing him onto the ground.

He chuckled weakly. "I should have never underestimated you. You were, like I said, a formidable foe-" He stopped and gasped for air as her sword was lodged directly into his skull and killed him on the spot.

"See you in hell for good." She growled and ran over to Captain's body, tears in her eyes.

"Come on... Come on Cap... Get up!" She cried. "You gotta get up! Please... I-I can't lose another friend! Please!"

"F-Four..." He groaned.

She perked up. "C-Cap'n?"

"M-My will... I-I left it in your t-tent..." He coughed. "I entrust you... with what I want..."

Kira started sobbing. "No! Nonono! Captain please!"

"Take care... of Three and Eight... For me..."

"NO! Captain!"

She watched him go limp in her arms. Her tears running down her face as she screeched. Clutching his body close and sobbing relentlessly.

"Damnit... Damnit to hell!" Kira roared. "This war has taken too many lives... I promise you, I'll never let anything like this happen again..." She stood up and raised her wings.

"I'm going to give you a proper sendoff..."

* * *

Everyone below the mountain anxiously awaited Kira's return. They all rejoiced as they saw her, but as she landed, they noticed something terribly wrong.

"Kira...?" Chili wondered, his voice quiet.

Kira cried and revealed to them the corpse of Captain Cuttlefish, making everyone gasp.

Chili stared at the sight in horror, feeling a tear run down his face as his fists shook with rage. "P-Please tell me that fucker is dead..."

"He's gone." Kira told him. She felt him latch onto her and she rubbed her back, holding back her tears.

Mint gasped and cried as well, Akari lowering her head and the salmonlings, inklings, octolings, and dark cephalopods lower their heads and pay their respects to the fallen Captain.

"Attention everyone!" Kira shouted, bringing their attention together. "We have lost a very beloved member of our crew. But we must continue onward. We will be giving him a proper sendoff and will take action as to what will happen to the Squidbeaks. Return to the camp and gather your things. And head home. There will be more news released at a later time."

Everyone nodded and two people remained. Layette and Tenta.

"The war's over... We won." Kira muttered.

Mint looked up, sniffling. "What do we do now?"

Kira kept the body of the captain close. "Inform 1 and 2 about Cap'n... And I'm going with Layette to the lab to find Misery's body so we can properly send her off too. I don't want her resting place to be in that hellhole."

Chili, Mint, and Akari nodded solemnly and headed towards Inkopolis. Tenta placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'll... talk to ya later... You need some time to yerself..." She walked away with the salmonlings behind her, and the dark inklings remaining.

"I will help the city restore NeoBright back to its former glory." Layette commented. "But we must deal with the aftermath of this horrid war... Once Kira and I return from the metro, we will begin preparations."

They all nodded and left the gorge, leaving the two alone.

"I am very sorry about your losses. I never knew that Misery was down there..."

Kira looked up. "How so?"

"Well, when I saw her last... She was in the camp, wounded..."

"WAIT! MISERY IS STILL ALIVE?!" Kira exclaimed.

"...Yes-"

Kira grabbed the body and zoomed through the air, returning to the camp and looking in the infirmary to see a wounded dark hybrid, reading a book. She smiled. "Kira-"

The inkling cried tears of joy and hugged her. "YOU'RE ALIVE! YOU'RE ALIIIIIIVE!"

Misery chuckled. "Whoa! Hey! I thought you knew?"

"But-But I saw you in the lab... Dying in my arms..."

Misery clenched her teeth together and looked away. "That... was an agent for the Dark League, she dressed up like me on accident and also stole my identity- I told Alaric it wasn't the best idea but NO! So I went to stop her and I got caught in the line of fire, damaging some major arteries, but I'm fine now."

Kira growled a bit, "Damnit Misery I thought you were fucking dead!"

"Does it matter?" She wondered.

"YES IT MATTERS!" Kira yelled hysterically. "You're my friend, of course I'm going to care if I'm holding your limp body in my arms watching you die! And TarTar-"

"Save it for later... My head still hurts." Misery complained, but smiled as Kira gave her one final hug. "But I'm glad you're okay as well."

"Me too Mis."

* * *

Kira located her tent and found Captain Cuttlefish's will. "For Kira's eyes only." She read. She opened up the doctrine and read while she sat on her bed.

_Dear Kira,_

_I know well that once my time is up, someone needs to lead the Squidbeaks with pride_

_If I die during this war, I'm asking you, Agent 4, to take my place and become Captain._

_There's an induction ceremony you must go through, sure. But you can do it._

_You will be given a captain's uniform and a new piece of gear the day of._

_Also, do me a favor._

_Chili and Mint have always seen me as a rolemodel for them._

_Take good care of them for me. They're basically my adopted children._

_And tell the Squid Sisters not to worry._

_With that, I bid farewell._

_You can also keep one of my medals to remember me by_

_Captain Craig Cuttlefish._

Kira began sniffling and crying again, but she nodded and grabbed his favorite medal, keeping it close to her as she looked up at the rising sun.

_The war is finally over. I'm so thankful that now... My friends, me, and Inkopolis can live peaceful lives once more._

* * *

End of Chapter


	21. Chapter 19

Epilogue

* * *

_Dear Diary_

_It's been two weeks since the war officially concluded. My scare with Misery turned out to be false and I was ecstatic to see her alive again. Mint and Akari had the same reaction too..._

Misery walked into the house with Kira and the two octolings cried and squealed, bear-hugging the dark inkling as she hugged them back.

"You're alive!" Mint sobbed. "Oh my cod Kira told us you were dead!"

Kira chuckled. "Misery got switched up with another dark agent instead."

"I told Alaric we should have went for an alternative."

Chili grimaced, but he smiled a little and said something nice. "So nice to see you not in a ditch."

"Nice to see those black highlights in your hair still." She snickered, and he growled, making everyone laugh.

_As time progressed, all of us went down to NeoBright and rebuilt the town. It was gorgeous afterwards. I mean, with the amazing building team of the Squidbeaks? I totally knew it was going to look brilliant._

_All of us still dearly miss Cap. His sendoff was a week ago..._

The several inklings, octolings, salmonlings, and dark cephalopods gathered by the shore, where Captain Cuttlefish's coffin rested on the shoreline. Flowers adorned the top of it. Everyone wore black to the funeral and Kira was in her dark form. Callie and Marie holding each other while the younger cuttlefish sobbed into her cousin's chest. Pearl and Marina's faces forlorn as they watched Kira approach the podium.

"Captain was an amazing person. He was a wonderful leader and an amazing grandfather. He was also a sorority figure to some of us. He helped me and even saved my life. We will give him the proper sendoff he deserves, and forever hold a place in our hearts." She walked up to the coffin and placed his bamboozler across the top, pushing it into the waters and it floated off into the ocean, tears running down her face as she sent a dark blast into the sky and blasted overhead, signaling the chargers to fire shots in the air in his honor.

_The Squid sisters, nor Off The Hook were very cheery for a while. It was devastating for many. Chili and Mint were hurt the most by this recent loss... Cap had sympathy for Mint and let them stay on the surface with Chili. Don't even get me started with Chili. He was sulking and depressed for quite some time. Couldn't even talk to him for days... maybe even weeks. I was concerned about Julie, but she seemed fine once I saw her and Chili again._

_But enough about the sad stuff, lets get to the happy things._

_The Dark Cephalopods and the Salmonlings were welcomed into Inkopolis. Some even made huge starts in their careers. Tenta managed to get in touch with Sheldon and together they made inkcredible new weapons for Turf and Ranked. While the dark cephalopods created new ranked modes and new minigames, as well as introduce an amazing style of clothing called Darkened Neon. I bought one of their hoodies and it's soooo soft!_

_My initiation as Captain is today. I'm not extremely thrilled with taking Captain's place, but it's what he would have wanted. He stated it directly in his will. I'll still be an Agent, thankfully, but it's just not going to be the same. But I hope I do a good job with upholding the peace._

_Signed, Kira Yoru._

Mint knocked at the door and Kira hid her diary as the octoling entered the room. "Hey! Are you ready for your big moment?" They were wearing their gown made of sunlight and their hair pulled back into a long ponytail, held in place by the golden sun hairclip.

She sighed. "Not really." Kira turned to her and stood up. Her captain garb on her body; black sleeveless shirt with blue lines and black pants with the blue lines on the side. Her knee high boots tapping against the tile floor and a cape flowing behind her.

"I understand... It's not easy being the one who has to take the place of a loved one."

"And it's even worse, because if I wasn't foolish enough to go and take TarTar on my own, He'd still be here!" She cried a bit. "You and Chili loved Cap and because of me he's gone!"

Mint held her close and rubbed her back. "Kira Yoru, what you did for everyone was the most heroic thing you've ever done. Sure, I miss Captain Cuttlefish, but he wanted you to be alive... And he gave his life so you could win the war. You're doing him a favor taking his place."

"It's what he wanted... He stated it in his will..." She spoke quietly. "It just doesn't feel right..."

Mint and Kira looked up as they were beckoned in the hall.

"It's time!" Mint squealed. "I'll see you soon!" They hugged her and went away to the hall, making Kira stand up and put on her gloves to her outfit. She pushed a tentacle out of her eye and proceeded towards the hall.

* * *

Kira felt herself shake as she saw many people sitting from the salmonlings, the dark cephalopods; her mother and father included. The idols, and her friends in the front rows. She took a deep breath and opened the large doors, everyone standing up and saluting to Kira as she walked down the aisle. Her heart-rate sky-rocketing as she approached the podium, the hat of the squidbeaks being placed atop her head. She reached for the scepter on the pillow, but her heart began hurting as this was the one thing that caused her mentor's demise. Her hand shakily grabbed the rod and held it in her palm. She gave a determined look and stood before Inkopolis.

She felt everything pulse and hurt. Every inch ached and shook. But she stood her ground and held the scepter high. The sanitized ink inside dispersing and turning into her own bright aquamarine ink, the squidbeak symbol inside and a veil encased in a barrier, making everyone stare in awe. But the process was over and everyone cheered.

* * *

The party was held in a fancy hall. Everyone was dancing the night away, enjoying some beverages and food, and overall having a good time. Everyone got to befriend one another and got along just fine.

Chili, wearing a fire red bowtie and a blackened vest adorned in flames. He walked over to the two octolings and asked, "Where's Kira? I haven't seen her since the initiation."

Akari, who was wearing a neon yellow dress with zig zagged patterns and a thundercloud hairpin in her hair, pointed towards the balcony. "She's on the balcony. She only came inside a few times to refill on her drink."

"Let's go talk to her." Mint insisted and went out to the large balcony.

Kira was sitting on the rails of the balcony, a bottle of Squid's Cola in her hand. Her legs dangled off the ledge and she was staring up. The night sky was beautiful; stars twinkling like thousands of tiny lights adorned in colors as the bright moonlight doused them in energy.

"Beautiful night out, isn't it? " She asked without turning around. "Luckily for us, the city is far enough for all these stars to be visible."

Chili propped himself next to the new captain and set his drink beside him; a cup of liquor. "Nothing can beat this."

She chuckled. "I remember when you told me about your expeditions to the top of the roof. You always went up there to count the stars that were visible in the sky, right?"

He shrugged. "Ya ain't wrong."

Both sat in silence as they watched the stars twinkle in the sky.

"...So what now?" Chili wondered.

"Hmm?"

"What's going to happen now? Are we going to go on some grand adventure again?" He asked, some snark in his voice.

Kira playfully punched him in the arm and chuckled. "No, dumbass!" She pulled out an envelope and inside there were four tickets to a luxurious island called Alehiala Isle.

"No way!" Chili sqwaked. "You didn't-!"

"I promised you I'd take you on a well deserved vacation, and I am a squid of my word. So here you go. You, Mint, Julie, and Akari."

He looked upset. "You're not going..?"

"Well... I am the new captain of the squidbeaks and-"

Chili shook his head. "You deserve a vacation more than anything. I'm calling Sin and we're all going on that vacation."

"Really? Thanks Chili."

"Anything for my girlfriend."

Kira looked at him, baffled. "Did you just call me your girlfriend, in public?"

"...Yeah? And?"

"Color me surprised! You never say these things!" Kira exclaimed. Making the whole group laugh.

The Cha-Cha slide started playing inside and the two squids grinned at each-other. "Oh yeah baby!"

"Last one in has to do the funky chicken!" She ran inside, and Chili and the others soon after her. All got around the dancefloor and Kira pulled out her phone. Gathering her friends around for a selfie. All smiling and happy, the light flashed and a picture of Callie, Marie, Misery, Layette, Tenta, Mint, Akari, Chili, and Kira was saved to Kira's phone. The night continued for what felt like forever, as Inkopolis' future was looking bright as ever!

Caption: _The Freshest Start to a Bright New Future!_

* * *

Hey! Sorry to interrupt this beautiful moment! But I just wanted to say that this series can still be continued through short stories and what-not!

I still have tons of ideas and with Kira as the new Captain, I have some new characters, new locations, and new things to put into action!

Expect to see some more from the Bright Future Saga: Starting with the book Isle of Flowers!

I hope you enjoyed this amazing series and stay tuned for the second part!


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